Second Chances
by Aladar
Summary: Sometimes the evil you are fighting against doesn't seem so evil anymore. Sometimes you just want to be left alone and forget about the past. And sometimes, just sometimes, you get that second chance you've been secretly waiting for your whole life.
1. Prologue

_**Second Chances**_

_**Prologue**_

"I never expected it from you, you know," calmly announced the shadow as it stared right into the single ruby eye of its adversary. "Behold, the once free and mighty Parallelmon," mocked the shadow with a booming voice that got drowned by the swirling mass of darkness engulfing the duo "now nothing more but a pet for the Sovereigns yanking his leash."

The creature finished with a menacing hiss and flashed a lopsided sinister grin that remained unseen, obscured by the shadows, at the silent mechanical golem standing before it. Whether the venom dripping from its words had stung, Parallelmon showed not. Indifferent to such things as hurt feelings, if a machinery as cold as him even had any, the cyclopical golem calmly stated after a long pause:

"I sought out the Harmonious Ones myself. It is in my own interest to help them."

The darkness around them kept on shifting, persisting on taking a different from for a fraction of a second then switching to another. And as the abyss of nothingness continued the steps of its eternal dance and the fleeting trails of its movement formed pictures of a thousand people's dreams, the pair refused to cease their silent staring contest.

The shade's empty eye sockets bore deep into the blood-red whirlpool of its opponent's eye. But the golem did not falter and despite the faint hopes of the shadow, kept on gazing into the two doorways to the abyss composed of the shattered remnants of the shade's soul.

What kinds of twisted schemes and plans were being formed inside the mind of the dark creature, Parallelmon could only guess. It had squinted, if barely, that much was obvious by the slight change in form of the bottomless tunnels of darkness that served as its eyes. Alas, when the shade spoke, no guess could be made about the nature of its intentions. The voice remained as arrogant as ever.

"And why is that, my dear Parallelmon, if I may ask?"

The living machinery kept holding his ground in the duel of wills, but the first signs of irritation, and from them- weakness, were beginning to show.

"I live off of the energy of Digi-Destined, Tamers, whatever they call themselves. Children partnered with Digimon- that is my prey. Their life force makes me grow, keeps me alive. You know that," silence once again descended around them for a second before the golem spoke again "and yet you keep on asking such foolish questions despite all the intellectual capacity you boast to posses."

The shade remained as still as ever but the dance of the darkness around them picked up its pace for a second. Images of nightmares and fears buried deep inside the cold hearts of humanity bared their ugly fangs. And then, just as fast, melted away into nothingness. As the darkness returned to its seemingly erratic, harmless dance, Parallelmon could swear that he had seen the shade lick its lips before flashing its predatory grin.

"Oh, so am I to assume that you intend to have a feast after you pick up your… 'packages'? A snack along the way? And not asking me to join in?"

The steel golem kept on standing like a silent statue, his legs seemingly rooted to the unexistining floor. Parallelmon single perfectly circular eye shined in the darkness as a beacon. Indeed, the blood-red light stemming from the fiery orb and reflected off the steel body of the golem was the only source of light in the sea of darkness. But even its light failed to exist when it came in contact with the intangible ephemeral form of the shade. Seeing that the mechanical cyclops wasn't going to answer, it hissed.

"But that hurts me, my dear Parallelmon. Forgetting dear old me? That hurts me very, very much."

Again the illusion of a barbed tongue licking blue cold lips. The steel golem barely managed to resist shaking his head. Why was he seeing things that weren't there? The… the thing in front of him was nothing! A waste! Too insignificant to be called even a shadow of its former self. And yet his mind was playing tricks on him. Deeming prolonged stay too dangerous, Parallelmon declared:

"I will fulfill my promise to the Sovereigns. And I will complete the mission assigned to me. Now will you move aside or will you force me to deal with the inconvenience of stumbling upon you here?"

The mechanical Cyclops did not wait for an answer. The shade made no move to stop the unusual messenger but just as he was about to cross over, the arrogant voice hissed yet again.

"Why? You know how much I can give you if you help me. Hide behind illusions all you like, Parallelmon, but in the end you are just like me. A creature of the shadows preying upon the weak."

The vortex of blackness around them seemed to swirl faster, gather strength… grow angry. The steel golem just turned around to answer, not paying attention to the turbulent surroundings.

"A creature of the shadows? Indeed, that I am. A monster even, by the standards of my prey. But the blackest shadows stem from the brightest light," Parallelmon's voice abandoned his usual monotone. The dry, defiant chuckle stabbed like a dagger the shade's pride "but I see only darkness in your promises."

As the red-eyed cyclops crossed the dimensional wall for the umpteenth time in his lifetime, the shade's final promise, one full of rage and venom, was the last thing he heard.

"Run then! Turn your back on me and run! But tell the weaklings you serve now this: I will be back. I will find a way out yet again… I ALWAYS DO!"


	2. A Blast From The Past

When you do something bad, you get what you deserve.

Many of you would disagree, of course, pointing out the various sleezy mafia bosses, CEOs of corrupt companies and the people who are supposed to better our countries but instead opt to play 'fill me pockets MOAR MOAR' most of the time. But if you think about it a little, you would realize that most of the time they end up shot, bankrupt, betrayed or all of the above. Bottom line is, be it 5 or 50 years after, the bit… ahem, fair damsel that is Lady Payback always collects the bill.

Thing is, I have no freaking idea whatsoever what kind of stuck-up scheming deity I have angered to deserve this. Be it the Kami, Lady Fate or the Universe, sending those two to knock on my front door? That's just sick and wrong on so many levels.

And to think that this morning even showed some promise for a nice day! Not that the bloody boring morning routine was any different than how it was before the summer. But like both my mother reminded me at the airport two days ago and my father announced last night, I'm starting high school today.

Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

With extra 'whoo'.

From this day on I am to enjoy the camaraderie, fluffiness and intellectual fruits of the Japanese high school system. Oh, and that little tiny bit of a detail that is the main part of every high school around the world- the food chain. Not that I've suffered at the hands of some brain-dead jock or something. Well, one tried. Once. Both of us went home with broken noses. Never had problems with the fella after that. All in all, I've been deemed a steady middle of the food chain. Or so I'm told. No one ever asked me if I wanted in in the stupid food chain or not.

Come to think of it, I never told you my name, right? Now I'm not the one that gives personal information to strangers but in this case…

Name's Alexander Yamashita. Xander for short. And before any of you start sniggering and poking fun at my 'traditionally exotic' name I'd like to point out that I'm not responsible that my parents grew up half a world apart. Literally. My old man's a corporate lawyer- after graduating from his fancy lawyer school his sky rocketing career took him to France on some fancy case. Where, as sappy movies usually have it, he met the social work activist suing the company Dad was hired by. That activist being Mom, her French charm apparently proved too much for Yamashita Sr.

Blah, blah, blah, after 7 years of lotsa passion and fluffy stuff, their careers proved too conflicting. I grew up in Avignon but an year ago Mom had to move due to her job and good ole' Xander ended up moving to Tokyo to live with his father and finish the last year of middle school here.

Alas, my hopes for charming the cute native girls with my 'exotic' European looks (1.75 m, auburn hair- very spiky fringe, must be from the Japanese side of the family, black eyes and, as much as I want to say movie star-looking with a six pack, average looks) kinda went down the drain. Not that none liked me- more like I, uhm, didn't notice them while focusing on other ones. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Dad jokes that I won't find a girl here because we Yamashita men always fall for the foreign beauties. Taking his gene-pool in consideration- gramps was native to Japan and grandma is American- 'foreign' is kinda a definition too vague for me. And that's not counting how grandma boasts about her 'passionate' Creole blood from her father's side and 'healthy Irish stubbornness' from her mother's.

All that aside, nothing could possibly compare to the two buffoons appearing uninvited at my doorstep this morning. Dad had recently gone off to work after he gave little Haruto a peck on the cheek and asked me if I was excited about my first day of high school. And eagerly expected a high-five from me.

Me. Excited. About high school.

I promptly left him hanging.

Kumiko went off soon after. Of course, she spent the usual time fussing around Haru and before exiting gave me one of her big hugs. Least she's trying to be on my good side. Truth to be told, I can't say anything actually bad about her. True, she's a complete ditz and has an attitude so sweet, that it tastes like diabetes. But then again, with my luck I expected her to be the wolf in sheep's clothing, wanting to destroy me for possibly standing between her and Dad. But she turned out okay. Kinda. Sorta…ish. It's unnerving really.

Anyway, I was to wait until old Nana came. A vile old grumpy creature whose planet of origin I am yet to determine. Never bothered to learn her name- I'm sure it's unpronounceable in Earthen languages. For once there was enough time for a lazy breakfast- the high school is a lot closer to home- and I turned up the music to a comfortable level. One day the neighbors will realize that I'm the one thing keeping them from oversleeping, I'm just sure of it. Optimism is the key. Then again, that comes from the guy whose own father threatened to stop giving him money if he kept spending them on losing lottery tickets.

Even little Haru, the demon he is, was behaving this morning. Most people would say that I'm jealous of him in fear of being replaced in Dad's eyes. Err…no. I'm not. This thing is not replacing me. It's out to get me. Not that I blame the lil' guy. Nana's the one responsible! All alone with him all day, filling his little head with alien stuff and turning him on his own brother.

Paranoia, you say?

Last time I had to babysit him I left the room for precisely two minutes to get a glass of water. When I returned, the carpet was on fire and that youkai of a baby was just watching and clapping and going all 'goo-goo' like normal babies do. Thankfully I had the glass of water. Not that it was enough to put out the fire but splashing it in my face certainly helped to comprehend the situation. After putting the fire out I had to buy the same carpet with my own savings and replace it before Dad or Kumiko came back home. And there wasn't even a lighter in the room!

How's that for paranoia?

Just as I was finishing off my tasty and unhealthy chocolate-covered waffles, I heard the doorbell. Must have been ringing for quite some time, the music has the habit of drowning out other noises. I took my time before answering- thought it was Nana being early for her evil deeds. She always berates me because of the music. And I always turn it up louder each time. Bad influence on little Haru, she says. Well, look who's talking! After all her brainwashing I've at least the right to make sure my brother has proper tastes in music.

Unfortunately, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, no vicious Nana awaited on the other side when I opened the door. Although the ugly green one with the hanging mouth could pass for her at first glance.

"Greetings, Yamashita Alexander. Forgive us our untimely intrusion, but we are on an urgent mission assigned to us by the Sovereigns themselves.

…

…

…

Holy *BEEP* of a *R-R-RIBBIT* *BUUURP* little *MEOW*, *CHOO-CHOO*! The *WOOOSH* are those two *RAWR* doing *OOOH, SOLE MIO* here? I mean, the *VROOOM*?

Oh, I had some hope alright. Hope that this would end up a dream after I've drunken myself half to death at someone's birthday. Anything. But. Them. Alas, hope wasn't enough to make them go away.

"Are you alright? I realize it has been a long time and our appearance is very sudden…"

Am I alright? Am I?

Someone, anyone, please shoot me, tear me apart, burn the pieces and spread them over Tokyo Bay. Now!

Needless to say, a two-meter antromorphic lion with a thing for jeans and exaggerated biceps and a green bodybuilding ogre with nothing but a loincloth kinda stood out of place in the corridor. And since gossiping neighbors are a very bad thing (and I didn't want them to give the old frail lady down the hall a heart attack) I let them in. Secretly hoped I could push them out of some window if they stood close enough.

Mr. Simba-On-Steroids opened his mouth to say something, how should I toss my life away for the stupid cause no doubt. No idea if Ogremon also wanted in on the chat- that darned thing's mouth is always hanging open! I decided that the wisest course of action was to cut them both off before the damage could be done.

"Listen , pal, I do not want to hear what you have to say. Return back to the five geezers and tell them Xander wants nothing to do with any of you anymore."

"But you do not realize the severity of the situation! Just, please, listen, allow me to explain. There's a-"

"- A terrible evil growing strong in the Digital World and only a group of special chosen children and their Digimon partners can hope to stop it etcetera etcetera. Been there, done that. It's always like this. Two things I have to say. One: I'm not a kid you can tell what to do anymore and two: tell your Brainless Ones that if all five of them actually moved their sorry asses, they'd stop it themselves!"

"You do not understand! This is an unprecedented case. The Sovereigns need the help of experienced tamers, older ones-"

"Older? Digimon bond the easiest with youngsters a.k.a. children, if you do not remember. Why would the-"

And at that point the green Nana-lookalike decided to show off his ability to actually speak comprehensible words. Me not impressed.

"- Ya little runt! Just listen already! We don't have all day and we must not be seen…"

Says the one who probably suggested they took the elevator.

"… so just listen, kay? This threat is different than the others. This situation is kinda, howdoyousayit, dali-dieli-delicate! Yes, delicate!..."

See? A literary genius.

"… We can't risk putting the fate of both worlds in the hands of children that won't, can't, understand the stakes and reasons this time."

"Well, that does sound different than the gazillion of times a bunch of kids has saved your sorry asses. So you're hiring teenagers now? My, my, with that rate you'd actually hire reasonable adults by the turn of the next century!"

"Watch your tongue, pup! We were given a mission and we came all the way here to accomplish it and I would not have you ruining everything and making fun of the Harmonious ones! Don't make me wash your mouth!"

And here I thought we were getting along merrily. A shame.

And that was the moment when Leomon put a hand, uhm, a paw on his mission-partner-slash-rival's shoulder and actually agreed to leave me be. Of course, the inevitable 'we'll let you think about it' came mere seconds after. I decided that some illusions they had about the situation ought to be dispelled.

"Look, I told you, there's nothing to think about. Don't pester me or any other of us for that matter. What I had to do, I did years ago. And I've had enough of it. Whatever's happening in the Digital World right now, that someone else's problem."

"Of your old group only you have been called upon. Fanglongmon thought he could give you a second chance. One of the three eggs was- is- for you."

Eggs? As in Digi-eggs? The ones with a baby Digimon inside? In close proximity? Heaven forbid one of them actually imprinted on me.

"Aye. Here they are. Specially chosen by the Sovereigns themselves for this mission."

And then that stupid ogre actually pulled a heavy-looking chest inside the room. I decided to shut down as many body functions as possible. Hoped that none of the little ones would sense me. One sentient waste-bin at home was more than enough. I had Haru for that. Luckily, the dimwit duo left soon after I entered statue mode. Good riddance! I was already getting blue due to lack of oxygen.

And that's when Nana came in. Almost gave me a heart attack, that extraterrestrial hag of a creature! Of course, she wasted no time on formalities and cut straight to berating my choice of music, behavior, dress code (funny, I was wearing the school uniform), the way I walked etcetera etcetera.

Somewhere between 'a bad influence on such a sweet child' and 'probably going to end up a delinquent' I hoped that she had met Leomon and Ogremon on their way out. Surely just coming within close proximity with that thing would have deleted them on the spot. Then again, they did have a bunch of uncanny senses- probably exited straight through the wall when the hag neared.

Kumiko claims that Nana had helped her parents raise her to be a true lady. Fearing that she will raise my own brother to be a 'true lady' as well aside, I claim that Nana has raised at least a dozen generations of Kumiko's family.

And here I am now, about to open the classroom door and drown myself into the raging ocean of high school drama that most certainly lurks on the other side. Then again, considering my guests this morning, I'll drown willingly. Upon entering the nearly full room an obnoxious, overly enthusiastic shout threatens to murder what's left of my hearing sense after Nana's morning ranting.

"Oi, Xander, over here! Come on, slowpoke, pick up the pace already!"

Great. At least the scant few people in the room not stunned or momentarily deaf because of his shouting won't have trouble remembering my name now.

Anyway, said annoying voice belongs to one Okawa Jiro. Self proclaimed ladies' man in the whole of Shinjuku.

Key word being 'self-proclaimed'.

He's the one thing that keeps me going no matter how bad luck I have with the girls. I know it's physically impossible to do as bad as him. Not that Jiro hasn't had any girlfriends, oh no! His longest relationship- 24 minutes. And that had been way back in 7th grade, before I even knew him. Let's just say that by the time I did, there was an ongoing poll how long it would take for some girl to slap a restraining order on him.

Now don't think that Jiro has ever tried anything funny with the ladies. God forbid, no, he just tends to be somewhat… obsessive when a girl catches his eye. And I've yet to meet one that doesn't.

"Hellooo, Earth to Xander? What took ya so long? You live the closest to here out of all of us and yet we had to save you a seat."

Ah, and that voice belongs to one Rikuto Maeda. Conspiracy theorist extraordinaire. And I doubt anyone in the whole of Tokyo would claim otherwise. Rikuto's been generally deemed the good responsible kid by the teachers. When he isn't in detention because of Jiro anyway. Rikuto has better things to do with his time instead of chasing after the girls. Most of the time it's either him chasing after aliens, or at least according to him, aliens chasing after him.

Always thought the fella was a few facehuggers short of a chestbuster if you get what I'm saying.

On the contrary of what you are probably thinking, I really like those two guys. When I moved in from France last year, they were the first ones to strike a genuine conversation with me. True, Jiro wanted to know if French girls are really all that passionate and Rikuto was interested in some rumor about the then-president of France being an alien bloodsucking reptile in disguise. We kinda stuck afterwards.

*R-R-RIIING!*

Oh, such righteous joy! The first bell has rung! I will now accept your sincere condolences.

By now the whole room is finally full- with a lot of unfamiliar faces to be honest. Although there are some girls from my middle school in the other end of the room. Well, too bad for Jiro. Poor guy thought he could woo all the ladies in high school due to all that 'fresh start' crap. No doubt these girls would warn every other female in the building about him first thing in lunch break. The heck, they are probably seating there 'cause Jiro is in this end of the room.

"Good morning, class! I trust you have done the homework I assigned you last year. How was your summer? Exiting? Boring? Cool? Hot? Any new steps in the world of young love?"

Great, haven't even noticed when the teacher came in. And what kind of homework is she blabbering about? We are new here! We-

Wait a minute…

Since when did they hire models to be teachers? Whoa, that's some legs. And what's above them is even better! Not the only one with such opinion, judging by how the rest of the males here are looking at her. Heh, and Jiro's just… just…

Oh, crap!

Heck no! Okawa Jiro, don't you dare hit on a teacher! You'd get Rikuto and me in trouble by association! Rikuto must be thinking the same because he just clasped a hand over Jiro's mouth and shushed him. Good thing the teach's writing something on the board, better she doesn't notice this.

Yeah, about the board? Is she explaining to us the law of relativity in detail or something? 'Cause I doubt we've studied such signs or thingies or whatever before.

"Look alive, class! We've much to do this year! It'll be just splendid! Masaru, I want one of your sweetest essays on quantum psychics for tomorrow. Yamato, I'll need some help with moving a cupboard in the lab after school. Izumi did you finally get together with Tai or not? Please do share, I'm just dying to know! You look so cute together!"

Wait, what?

While the teach keeps scribbling complex formulas on the board one of the girls finally decides to interfere.

"Uhm, Miss? This, uhm, this is supposed to be homeroom class, freshman year."

Ouch. Some cogs must've rolled in that pretty head of hers. At least judging by the way the teacher slowly turns to look at us as if she's expecting to see Jack the Ripper in some dark alley.

"Oh. Oh, freshman year! I'm your homeroom teacher, yes! The principal did mention something like this, yes! Must've slipped my mind. Heh. Thought you were Psychics class, senior year."

Aaand crickets can be heard chirping…

"Anyway, allow me to be the first to officially welcome you to Shinjuku High. I am Sasagi Ayame. And what're your names? Favorite things? Hopes for your stay here and the future? You, the pretty girl with the hair buns on the first row! You start!"

Off to Hyper Land again, I see. Honestly, that woman is either high on something or suffering from the most severe sugar rush I've ever seen. Alas, my turn to introduce myself comes soon. Well, with me sitting first column, third row next to the window, no wonder.

"Uhm, hi, everyone. I'm Yamashita Alexander, from West Shinjuku Middle School. I prefer to be called Xander for short; Alexander seems too formal for me. I don't have any particular plans for the future and I, uhm, hope to get along with all of you."

What you think I'm lying? I would like to get along with them. What, do you think of me as some brooding teen that'd prefer to suffer alone in misery?

The introductions just keep on going and going. West, East, South Shinjuku, some plump guy with dark curly hair from Odaiba… Basically, my hopes that one of the cute girls would declare that she's in search of aliens, time-travelers and espers steadily wane. What? I had to practice my Japanese before coming here. Anime seemed the easiest way.

And now it's the turn of some brooding guy with obviously dyed blond hair. Oh, and his crumpled tie sticking out of his pocket after being shoved in there.

"Hnn."

My, my. Certainly won't be able to say a single word because of his constant blabbering.

"Nishimura Kaito, East Minato Middle School."

See? A most talkative fella.

The torch of introduction is finally passed to the last guy in the room. Another blond, albeit seemingly natural. And with Caucasian looks?

"Uhm, hello. My name is Wil- err, Beckenstein Willis from Gallagher Middle School ,Colorado. My family apparently moved to Tokyo recently. I, uhm, hope we can be friends?"

'Apparently moved'? Did they just fly across the ocean while he was sleeping in a box or something? And-

Wait a minute… is that guy talking to his backpack now?


	3. Mystery Meetings

The cheery sun-beams of the scorching Sol merrily filled the school lab without caring what sort of discomfort they were causing to the students. The unpleasant feelings in that case were, sadly, both physical and mental. The science lab felt even more like an oven than the other rooms- pristine white walls, unnaturally glistening pearl-colored floor tiles and panoramic windows made seemingly just to torture the poor souls stuck in there on a hot day. Not only that, but the big windows were a constant source of false promises for the teenagers locked up for the day in Shinjuku High School.

As the increasingly hot September day slowly kept on rolling over, the students' frustrations were steadily reaching critical levels. Whatever amount of adrenaline and curiosity they had harbored when they had entered the building, it had been quickly and cruelly drained away by the mundane rhythm of school and left to die in the stifling air. The main predicament of the students seemed simple at first- the day was way too hot for anyone's taste so they wanted to stay inside and sip one cool lemonade after another. Alas, many of the imprisoned students soon realized that the school was not the fresh-aired haven they had been seeking. And so, dozens upon dozens of young adults had spent the majority of the day lustfully staring though the mockingly open windows, watching the pigeons slowly get roasted outside, and knowing all too well that the only way of escaping Sol's wrath was actually venturing into it and outside their stifling cage.

One such disgruntled student was Alexander 'Xander' Yamashita. The black-eyed boy was currently laying on his part of the desk and occupying himself with what many others had chosen to do while waiting for their teacher- nothing. The spiky fringe of Xander's auburn hair was making it somewhat difficult to discern whether he was awake or napping. Then again, if someone listened carefully enough, Xander's heavy sighs filled with frustration showed it was the former and not the later.

His day had started the worst imaginable way possible- with the visit from the denizens of a world parallel to Earth- the Digital World. Alexander had liked to think that he had left that part of his life behind forever. He liked to think of it as some foolish childhood fantasy, a game of pretend he had believed in too much once ago. Truthfully, after years of force-feeding his brain such thoughts and slowly starting to realize the jaded reality of adult life, Xander had been almost ready to dismiss it completely. Nothing more than an unrealistic dream of a silly child believing that there were discernable black and white parts of life. That must have been it. That he wanted to believe.

And he almost had, until Leomon and Ogremon had showed up on his doorstep that morning. Alexander had been blunt with them and had shoved them out of his life before some part of him dared to start believing in such a foolish childhood illusion once again. He had done his duty years ago. According to him, whatever mess had the Digital World gotten itself into yet again, it was somebody else's problem. Besides, in his opinion, he was too old for the job anyway.

Xander let out another sigh and looked tiredly around the room while tugging his collar and loosening his tie for the umpteenth time that day. Whatever small part of his class was not trying to escape the grueling heat in Dreamland was busy with a dozen different activities. Many of the girls had already discovered that they could check the status of their make-up, at least the one that had managed to fly beneath the dress-code's radar, directly in the unnaturally white and reflective floor tiles.

Many more were busy fanning themselves with their notebooks, the most blatant example being Nishimura Kaito who had also put his legs on his desk and had unbuttoned his whole shirt. A lot of the girls were currently swooning over his chiseled body, earning him a ton of nasty glares by Jiro for hogging all the female attention.

The Okawa himself was in a heated, and overly one-sided, checkers marathon against his friend Rikuto. The young Maeda had managed to win over half a dozen games due to Jiro being distracted by Kaito being a distraction for the girls. Xander's gaze left his desk-mates just as Rikuto won yet another game and focused on the back of the plump boy from Odaiba currently sitting besides Kaito.

The fella had ended up next to the Nishimura by accident but didn't seem to mind it. The heat was taking an even heavier toll on him- that much was obvious by the expansive patches of sweat on his shirt. But the boy with short curly hair didn't seem to notice anything around him- so lost was he in his grilled cheese sandwich.

Xander's roaring stomach made him envious of the other lad's ingenuity to bring some food to school. At least he had to wait just this class before lunch break.

And if their teacher wasn't going to show up, why at least not get something to eat while waiting for the bell? That traitor was probably somewhere inside the cool, air-conditioned teachers' lounge. Or he had completely forgotten about having a class to teach. Xander wouldn't have been surprised by that in the least. Considering the teachers he had already met, forgetting about them would actually score pretty low on the boy's strangeness scale. Let's just say that after their gorgeous homeroom-slash-math teacher who was a complete klutz, the paranoid gym teacher concerned that they wouldn't be ready in case of sudden warfare and their hippie of a history teacher, Xander was sure that the school had a 'crazy only' policy when hiring staff.

And just then the door suddenly burst open. After several seconds, probably for a dramatic purpose was Alexander's guess, their science teacher walked in.

After only five minutes the overly bald man with a messy graying goatee that had probably been some kind of blond once, managed to make quite the impression on the class. For the short time he had been in the room, Mr. 'It's Herr!' Blitzenheim had managed to win the contempt of his students for a record time.

Indeed, the beer-belly of a teacher had managed to whack Kaito's legs off the desk with his crooked walking cane, confiscate Plump Guy's sandwiches and throw them out of the window and accuse Jiro of being a delinquent because of his 'obviously' dyed green hair. And that in the span of only four minutes and a half. The rest thirty he spent fixing Xander's 'slouched and offending' posture. Oh, and by the way, Jiro's hair was actually a natural green hue.

But it got really interesting when Blitzenheim passed by Willis' desk while ranting about the discipline of students.

"I will not allow disobedience or breaking the rules in my class, students! Nor will I tolerate displays of arrogance. We will all obey the rules in this room and respect the chain of command. If we all do that, nothing will go wrong and you will not have to meet me after school for disciplinary purposes. It is all really simple. In my time-"

"When was that? When the Great Wall of China was being made?" mockingly asked a voice seemingly coming from where a very pale Willis was standing "Judging by that wild mane on your head, pops, you were probably one of the guys donating hair for checking if there were gaps between the bricks."

Blitzenheim froze on the spot and slowly faced the foreign boy. The teacher plastered a Cheshire grin on his face and announced for the whole class to hear before the chalk-white Willis could even defend himself.

"Indeed, I expected that. Every year there is always some delinquent who thinks the rules don't apply to him due to some reason or another," the teacher lowered his voice and leaned closer to the blond boy's sweating face "Detention, my dear rascal. After school, here in the lab. I will not tolerate such things in my class," arrogantly smirked the foreign teacher before standing upright and announcing once again to the rest of the class "May this be a lesson for the future pranksters in this class. You have been warned."

Just as the aging men resumed his sinister walk around the room, the cocky voice spoke again before being hastily silenced.

"Oooh, such originality. Detention and writing lines after sch- oomph!"

Blitzenheim glared at Willis once more and the boy, whose face was rapidly losing color, just flashed a hopeful innocent grin. The teacher let out an almost theatric 'humph' and shook his head before calmly saying:

"Congratulations. You just doubled your detention."

The rest of Science class was spent in almost total silence- save for Kaito occasionally growling 'hnn' when Blitzenheim passed by. Willis made sure he didn't stand out any more for the duration of the class and Jiro, along with many others, shot daggers at the teacher's back whenever he turned around. The guy with dark curly hair from Odaiba kept looking out of the window from where his sandwiches had flown out even more lustfully and with a bit of sorrow on his face. Xander couldn't help but ask himself whether the mocking voice had been really silenced just when he saw Willis kicking his backpack.

* * *

"Just one more class- one more- and we are home-free!" almost shouted Jiro and collapsed onto his steel chair at one of the cafeteria tables. The boy with short dark hair across of him groaned in agreement, only for the third student at the table to painfully remind them:

"You do realize that this is only the first day of our annual nine-month imprisonment, right?"

Rikuto chose to only groan again at Xander's comment, leaving Jiro to point out an accusing spork at the auburn-haired boy.

"You need some positive thinking, mate. Otherwise you'll end up all depressed and miserable- like him."

"Hey!" Rikuto protested with what strength he had left. Alas, the hand he was leaning on slipped due to his rapidly sweating face. The young Maeda could only groan for the third time after ending up face-first into the mashed grey gooey… substance filling his tray. "I hate my life."

"What, no elaborate ancient conspiracy of someone manipulating you to place the trey there just to make sure you fell right into it?" quipped Xander in a vain attempt to cheer up his friend.

"It's too hot for that," was the only answer he got from the boy whose head was still buried inside his 'lunch'.

The Yamashita absent-mindedly patted the back of his friend and Jiro had trouble not bursting out laughing. With a fourth groan Rikuto announced he was going to the boys' room to remove the unknown grey substance from his hair. Speaking of which…

"Great. And here I thought I had left the mystery meat behind in Europe," sighed Xander and turned a sporkfull of mystery meat upside down. The grey substance stuck to the spork like glued and bounced up and down in midair.

"Yeah! What gives with the crappy food?" joined in on the complaining Jiro. In response the Yamashita pointed at the announcement hanging above the cafeteria double doors.

"_Western School Food Student Week_"

"Crappy food, crappy project name," the green-haired boy shook his spork threateningly "Honestly, when I find out who's responsible for this I'm gonna-"

Just then Jiro was cut off by the arguing of two voices close behind them. Xander raised a single eyebrow when the bickering duo neared their table.

"Great! Because of your stupid project we are late and there's nowhere to sit! Remind me again why I agreed to help you, sis?"

"Oh, shut it, Hiro! As the youngest member of the Student Council, they expect from me to come up with a proper project and oversee its completion."

"And you came up with the grand idea of droppings for food?"

"Argh, you're impossible sometimes!"

It was then that the girl- one of Japan's natural bluenettes- spotted the nearly empty table of Xander and Jiro. She swiftly took hold of her brother's hand- a boy slightly taller than her and his incredibly spiky hair the same dark blue color as hers- and dragged him into the table's direction. Jiro, who had also heard the squabble, was about to turn around and give the one responsible for the mystery meat a piece of his mind. Oh, he did just that. Only to come face to face with the smiling, gold-eyed girl with dark blue hair falling down to the middle of her back.

"Excuse me, are these seats taken? Because me and my brother can't find any other place to sit."

Xander could only see the disarming smile of the newcomer and the back of Jiro's head from where he was standing but what was happening inside his friend's mind was crystal clear to him.

A cute girl had willingly asked if she could sit with them. With Jiro. Who would've thought- the warnings of their former classmates had apparently somehow missed this poor soul. Alas, before Xander could say something and avoid his green-haired friend from embarrassing them both, Jiro kicked into overdrive.

"But of course! A pleasure to meet you, my fair lady! I am Jiro, Okawa Jiro. And may I ask what your name is?"

In Xander's opinion, 'cheesy' didn't even begin to describe it. The surprise was that the girl actually shook Jiro's hand and introduced herself.

"Uhm, I'm… I'm Ishikawa Natsuki. But just Suki is enough…"

Allowing Jiro to use the shortened version of her name? Either she was mental or had already written her will, the Yamashita thought.

"…and, uhm, a pleasure to meet you as well."

Then again, probably a will, Xander concluded.

"Oh, no," Jiro sighed theatrically "the pleasure is all mine."

"And I'm Takahiro," announced Suki's brother after forcedly putting down his tray on the table with an audible 'clank' "A pleasure," almost grunted the gold-eyed boy and glared at the greenhead hitting on his sister and then at Xander for good measure. Takahiro took the seat next to Jiro, making sure that he was between the Okawa and his sister.

"Uhm, can I sit here, too? Everything else is kinda taken," asked out of nowhere another voice. To Xander's displeasure it turned out to belong to the blond American boy from his class… what was his name? Ah, yes, Willis, remembered the Yamashita after the newcomer introduced himself to the others. The auburn-haired boy eyed the foreigner's backpack carefully, like it was a ticking bomb.

And just when Xander was thinking things couldn't possibly get worse- or more crowded- one Nishimura Kaito plopped on the last free seat next to Willis. The delinquent promptly ignored the questioning looks that everyone was giving him and leaned back on his chair, putting his hands behind his head.

"Excuse me?" Suki asked with a bit of disdain in her stern voice.

"That was the last free seat in the cafeteria, princess. Cool off your engines, you'll get premature wrinkles with all that glaring," let out a laugh the Nishimura, all the while watching the bluenette with a single open eye.

"Thank you for your concern but I think I will turn out just fine," Suki declared with a smirk and bridled up, looking at Kaito with clear disdain this time "And could you please button up your shirt? You'll get in trouble if a teacher sees you like this."

"Thank you for your concern," mockingly echoed Kaito "but I think I will turn out just fine. And besides, princess, if you find my body distracting, you'll have to wait. The line starts waaay over there," and, as if for emphasis, the blond teen put his legs on the table.

"Like I could be interested in a… a delinquent like you!" snorted Suki in quite the unlady-like matter.

"Sooo… what do you think of the food?" she asked the others and turned her back on Kaito as much as she could from her seat.

"Way past inedible," immediately quipped Takahiro.

"I've socks more food-like than this," snorted Kaito.

"Junk food, I understand. But junk _for_ food? That's just pushing it," added his two cents Xander.

"Uhm, it probably contains all the food groups? Probably?" muttered Willis while pondering for something nice to say.

"Deee-licious!" nearly shouted Jiro and the ever-stoic Kaito almost fell off his chair when the greenhead stuck a sporkfull of mystery meat into his mouth. Alas, actually eating it was another matter. The grey goo clung to his teeth and nearly glued his mouth shut. After a lot of painful chewing and making faces like he was having contractions, Jiro finally gulped and flashed Suki an ear-to-ear grin.

Good old Jiro, Xander thought. Just when you were sure he had hit rock bottom, the greenhead just kept digging with glee. But to Xander's surprise, the surprises themselves didn't seem to end.

"Heh. Don't think such a pretty girl could be fooled by your stunts, pal," chuckled Willis and flashed a disarming smile at Suki. The bluenette's cheeks turned rosy at the sudden attention. Jiro narrowed his eyes at the foreigner for hogging the spotlight. Takahiro kept stabbing his portion of mystery meat with increasing frustration. And Xander just mentally slapped himself.

All day long he had thought that the blond was an insecure introverted boy with some secret possibly- just possibly- connected with Digimon. And now this charming, confident Casanova appeared out of nowhere?

The Yamashita boy didn't know why he suddenly felt more irritated than ever. True, he never really expected anything special out of this day. But at least the Universe could have let him have one normal first day of high school, right? But no, it had to suddenly be the hottest day of September in decades, Digimon showed up at his doorstep, he had just met possibly the meanest teacher in his whole life and the whole day he had been keeping an eye on a guy that possibly had smuggled a Digimon into the building. Not only that, but his quiet lunch with his friends, crappy food aside, had been suddenly turned upside-down, becoming something vaguely looking like an episode of a bad sitcom. And somehow Willis' last comment irritated him even more. That sudden suave voice, the posture, the confidence! What, he didn't think others could sweet-talk, could bend the truth or talk their way out of a nasty situation? The hell of it, his father was a corporate lawyer, Xander thought, lying, bending the truth and sweet-talking were in his genetic makeup! The words left his mouth before the auburn-haired boy even realized he had opened it.

"Yeah, but Willis," Xander quipped and looked at the others' reactions from the corner of his eye "you seem to forget that you are not talking just to a brainless beauty here but to an educated smart lady. I doubt your badly hidden compliments would work as well… _pal_."

A sense of satisfaction filled him for a moment when he noticed Suki's blush deepening. Jiro looked somewhat betrayed and Willis smirked, ready to retort with a comment of his own, but Takahiro's sudden outburst quickly silenced the table.

"Will all of you stop it already?" barked the blue-haired boy and tossed the spork aside "Stop hitting on her like she's some… some easy bimbo or something!"

"Easy?" laughed Kaito "How'd you know, you've tried Princess or something?"

With a roar that grabbed the whole cafeteria's attention, Takahiro lunged at the Nishimura, forcing them both on the floor. Suki screamed and pleaded her brother to stop and a crowd immediately gathered around the two boys battling for dominance on the floor tiles warmed by the day's heat. Sadly, for Takahiro at least, it wasn't much of a battle- Kaito had soon pinned the gold-eyed boy down and was bombarding the Ishikawa with one swift and painful punch after another. Willis and Xander, probably because they felt guilty at playing a role in Takahiro's outburst, ended up the ones barely able to pry off Kaito from the other boy. Somehow, Takahiro still had some fight left in him, because when Blitzenheim appeared out of nowhere, Suki was still clinging to her brother and trying to stop him from jumping into the fray yet again.

The foreign teacher eyed the tattered students in front of him with disdain. Suki's normally long straight hair was disheveled, with strands sticking out left and right. Takahiro looked like ran over by a freight train and Xander and Willis were barely restraining a very angry Kaito whose nose showed no signs of stopping its bleeding. Only a stunned Jiro was still at the table, a spork in his trembling hand, and was only able to mutter 'what the hell did just happen now'.

A smirking Blitzenheim gleefully declared:

"Well, Mr. Beckenstein, it seems you are going to have company after school after all. Am I to assume that you showed those four how to take my warnings about discipline to heart?"

After the sudden silence that had descended upon the cafeteria upon Blitzenheim's sudden ghostly appearance, the hall once again erupted into a cacophony of shrieking voices belonging to various students who tried to explain the situation.

"He insulted my sister! I've no fault that this…"

"What? But I was the one that helped stop that gorilla here from making some Ishikawa paste! That's ridicu…"

"I was just helping, too! Come on, Mr, err, Herr Blitzenheim, three detentions on my first day? All by the same teach…"

"D-d-did you just say detention? You can't put me into detention! They'll throw me out of the Student Council! And the Literature Club and… and… I suddenly don't feel very we…"

A still stunted Jiro, who was still clutching his spork, just silently mouthed to the boy with damp hair that had rejoined him at the table 'don't ask'.

* * *

"Terriermon, what's gotten into you today?" came an angered, hastily hushed voice from one of the stalls in the boys' room "Because of you we'll have to spend who knows how much time _here_ instead of going home!"

"_Home_?" mockingly echoed the strange creature standing on top of the toilet seat "You call this home? Are you really sure that you didn't hit your head when we- Maker knows how- ended up here?"

"You perfectly know what I am talking about," whispered Willis and pursed his lips "We don't know a single thing about this place and you just have to be your usual smartass self and annoy the people around you."

The creature, which looked like a cross between a rabbit and a terrier dog whom someone had painted creamy white with green undertones, knitted his nonexistent eyebrows together as if deep in thought and answered with a mockingly childish voce.

"Heh. You said 'ass'."

Terriermon's human partner buried his fingers into his unruly blond hair and barely restrained himself from screaming. After counting to ten and taking a deep breath, Willis was about to try reasoning with the creature once again but the bunny-dog hybrid cut him off.

"Look, you said it yourself this morning, we've been in freakier situations before," shrugged Terriermon and scratched his head at the base of his single small horn "this could end up some kind of illusion. Or just a plain dream. Or an alternate reality or something. Maybe you've just followed my advice and we both went out on a wild party and got so terribly drunk we can't even remember how your parents took us back and why and when we've moved to Tokyo. Heck, maybe you even took my advice and finally got la-"

Before even Willis could make his partner stop with the ranting, the dog-bunny hybrid suddenly narrowed his beady black eyes and let out a low menacing growl at the direction of the stall's closed door. The blond teen carefully put a reassuring hand on his partner's back to make sure he didn't burst out and potentially expose them. Willis opened the stall's door just enough so he could take a peek outside. The restroom was seemingly empty, there was only a… a girl next to one of the sinks. Dismissing Terriermon's reaction to being edgy just because of their unusual predicament, Willis shook his head and stepped out to tell the girl that this was the boys 'room. Alas, he had already stepped forward when he noticed that the girl wasn't dressed right- gothic lolita style was certainly not part of the school's dress code. But that was not the only thing that was off about the strange girl- she was pale, way too pale for even one with her choice of style. Her blond hair, stylized in two short pigtails, seemed like it was graying prematurely. And while asking himself why the girl was acting so scared, shivering and whispering something to herself, Willis noticed that the crooked mirror above the sink showed no reflection.

_Splash_.

The boy's foot went down, but instead of the cold floor that was there mere seconds before, he found only water. Cold, murderous, black water that whispered overwhelming promises of suffocation, damnation, a way out of all his problems… Willis grew nauseous as all light fled the place, leaving nothing but shallow, dull grayness behind, nothing but shadows and dark water embracing a shivering girl and a scared boy.

The blond teen dared not move, lest he really fell into that ocean of still, malevolent water beneath him. And amidst the mocking smell of salty air, which one could breathe in near the seaside, and the sound of dripping water, a voice spoke.

The most gruesome one he had ever heard. Gurgling, inhuman, unearthly… the voice spoke of death and damnation, of murder and blood, of suffering and… of doubt. And when the awful shrieks and gurgles spoke of the doubt, the boy's fears grew tenfold and the suddenly raging water seemed to echo the voice's words.

"_Useless… that's what you always thought, is it not? Foolish little Willis, so useless, useless, USELESS!_"

The rampant water threatened to devour him and for a fleeting moment Willis bid farewell to his life. But the dark ocean around him just as suddenly subsided, becoming once more nothing than a seemingly shallow puddle beneath his feet. The voice spoke again and Willis' heart nearly burst when he recognized his own voice, twisted and deformed, hissing and gurgling at him. A single cracked mirror was standing on his right.

And from there his reflection was flashing him a toothy Cheshire grin. And with the voice's each word, the reflection withered away- in the end becoming nothing more than the reflection of a seventeen-year-old who had been aged to a hundred for mere moments, grey hair falling out on patches and a pair of glassy dead eyes edged deep into the pristine white skin the only thing showing that the thing in the mirror had ever been alive.

"_When they needed you, when they could have used your help, you weren't there. They made a change. Changed the world for the better. And what did you do? Wander about with your little digital friends doing nothing! USELESS!_"

"_And when they were saving both worlds, what did you do? You grew greedy. The others had only one, single… precious. You had two and yet you wanted more. Tried playing God, that you did. And what did you do? You failed, created an abomination that nearly cost the life of millions, that cost the life of your friend! USELESS!_"

"_And even when they came, came to solve your problems, what did you do? Made things difficult for them! Nearly got them killed yet again! And after that you only observed… again and again you did nothing good, caused nothing but harm! But you kept your head high, did you not? Counted as one of them, revered as one of them… but nothing more than a useless pretender. USELESS!"_

"_And in the end, what did you do? You showed your heart to me. Your fears, your doubts… your life. Everything belongs to me now. You. Are. Mine._"

A pair of clawed hands shot out of the still water, taking hold of Willis' ankles and dragging him down to his doom. He tried to fight but the strong webbed hands were relentless- and inch by inch he was pulled down. The waters promised to make him forget, to take all the pain, all the grief and doubt away. Promised oblivion. And the girl just kept whispering into the corner…

"TERRIER TORNADO!"

Another figure appeared out of nowhere- a white-and-green blur, spinning like a top and pushing the hissing waters away, flushing them out along with the cursed reflection, the cold webbed hands and the blond girl. Willis fell to his knees and gasped for breath, suddenly finding out that his heart had been beating too close to its limit. Terriermon looked at his partner over his shoulder and, while trying to hide the fear in his voice, grinned.

"Y'know, Willis, I think we can rule out the wild party option."


	4. And So It Begins

"…and that is why discipline is essential to our life," finished Blitzenheim and with a wide smile asked "Any questions?"

Alas, the science teacher's audience was less than captivated. The ever-so-scorching sun-beams that kept on invading the lab shone over a small, and looking positively brain-dead, audience. The young adults who had just being through an excruciating rant about responsibilities and discipline for over an hour seemed to be ready to jump under the first speeding truck they saw. Save one of them, of course.

"Oh, oh! Herr Blitzenheim! I have a question!" nearly shrieked a girl with straight dark blue hair. Her enthusiastic jumping up and down on her chair as she waved her hand right in front of the teacher's face made her twin brother cringe. The gold-eyed boy, who was covered in numerous patches and binds from head to toe, moved away from his sibling, his chair producing an awful, deafening screech as it slid across the floor tiles. Said action quickly earned Takahiro another threatening glare from Blitzenheim. The teen tried smiling innocently but due to his numerous injuries, ended up looking like he had just swallowed an extremely sour lemon whole. The overly plump teacher narrowed his eyes at the sweating student once more for good measure before replying to the still wide-eyed Suki.

"Why yes, Miss Ishikawa, do ask," he said with a sickeningly saccharine voice before growling at the male portion of the students gathered in the room, which meant- in short- everyone else. "At least _some_ of my students show promise and dedication. Unlike some _others_ I know."

Somewhere on Xander's left, Willis gulped when Blitzenheim's beady eyes fixated on him.

Xander himself felt the need to gag when Suki cheerily asked their stern 'overseer' to retell some insignificant deadly part of his rant on how discipline had helped him in life. The auburn-haired boy would have labeled the girl a mere bootlicker if not for the way she had vigorously scribbled notes while Blitzenheim had been murdering their brain cells one by one for a whole dreadful hour with his rant. The fact that the girl was actually taking Blitzenheim seriously, that showed that things had reached a whole new and unexplored level of 'disturbing'. Takahiro moved his chair even farther away from his sister and sank in until only his bruised golden eyes could be seen looking nervously around. He was probably hoping that the others would forget his unfortunate relation to Suki, Xander guessed.

Hah! Like anyone could forget that Hiro's teacher's pet of a sister had just practically begged Blitzenheim to mind-rape them again. To Xander's biggest- even more surprisingly, pleasant- surprise, Blitzenheim politely turned down Suki's request and explained he had to go. Hey, maybe the Universe actually was planning on letting him life that day so he could suffer another time, Xander thought hopefully. The teen was just about to get up and leave when Takahiro asked with oh-so-much hope in his voice:

"So we are free to leave?"

"Nooo. You are to stay here until 6 o'clock and write a ten-page essay on the importance of obeying the rules. Bye-bye now!"

Then again, maybe the Universe wanted to see how much he could take before he bit through his own veins to end the misery.

Xander could only blink in disbelief as Blitzenheim almost ran out of the room and slammed the door on his way out. Suki immediately started writing the essay and with a sickening squeal wondered aloud what literary devices she should use. Her bandaged brother whimpered something about life being unfair and a loud bang on Xander's left indicated that Willis had finally succumbed to the urge of banging his head on his desk. The auburn-haired boy glanced warily to the back of the lab. There, shell-shocked and possibly finally brain-dead after Blitzenheim's rant, was sitting Kaito, his face as blank as a statue's as he kept on rocking back and forth.

* * *

Even with the music on, he could still hear the constant ticking of the accursed clock.

_Tick. Tick. TICK!_

Second after second, the dreaded monotone bangs, as if increased thousand fold just to annoy him, invaded Xander's mind. The auburn-haired boy tried tugging in the headphones even deeper, but nothing seemed able to stop sound wave after sound wave of annoying ticking from washing all over him.

With a disgruntled sigh, Xander turned his back on the wide-opened window in defeat and his black eyes surveyed the school lab he had learned to despise in the matter of mere hours. Willis was the closest to him- the teen had just put his pen down with a tired groan and had buried his hands deep into his unruly blond hair. Kaito was the farthest- doodling graffiti over the blackboard and grunting every now and then when he had to erase some part and redo it. The delinquent frequently threw hopeful looks at Suki, who was still busy writing on the first row, and daringly waited for the girl to glare and reprimand him for his rule-breaking escapade.

And the clock just kept on ticking and ticking, perched above the blackboard and just above Kaito's dyed blond head.

Xander was just considering tricking the delinquent that the best way to get Suki's attention was by smashing the hated clock when Takahiro moved his chair closer to his twin. Alas, his seemingly nonchalant question failed to trick his sister.

"Hey, sis, mind if I take a look at your essay?"

Seeing the threatening look in his sister's eyes, Takahiro quickly coughed and added, "For entertainment purposes only, of course. No cheating. Or copying. Nosiree!"

"Hiro," sighed Suki and moved all the 24 pages of text she had written so far away from her twin. "How many times do I have to tell you? You'll never learn if you keep copying off me!"

Takahiro's shoulder slumped in defeat and he strolled like a dead man back to his seat. The gold-eyed boy sprawled on it with a groan and muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"But you never even let me copy your stuff!"

Trying and failing to escape her brother's dreaded puppy dog pout, Suki mumbled something under her breath and passed some of her notes to Hiro with an annoyed look. The blue-haired boy didn't waste any time and swiftly threw away the several sheets he had filled with pointless run-on sentences and all-around nonsense. Seeing how Hiro scribbled as fast as he could in fear that Suki was going to change her mind, Willis carefully stood up and approached the other boy with a hopeful look in his face.

"Mind if I take a look? I'm kinda two pages short."

Willis somehow managed not to tremble under Takahiro's judging glare and soon after the blue-haired boy shrugged.

"Heh, why not? Don't see anything wrong with it," he said and stuck his tongue out at Suki who had just gasped at the sudden defiance to the school rule system. "But I'll still kick your butt if you hit on my sister again."

"Can't promise that one," Willis teased but upon seeing Hiro's unamused look, quickly added "Sheesh, relax! I'm just kidding, man!"

Several more minutes, for Xander- seemingly centuries, passed before any of them broke the silence that had once again descended upon them. It was Kaito's angry voice that ended the monotone scribbling of pens and shuffling of papers.

"I can't take it anymore!"suddenly bellowed the teen and threw away the piece of chalk he was holding. "I'm outta here!"

Alas, when the blond delinquent tried to open the door, nothing happened. And no matter how hard he hit, kicked or cussed at it, the stubborn door refused to budge.

"That son of a bitch has locked us in!" howled Kaito in disbelief.

"Kaito!" Suki snapped and finally looked up from the numerous notes scattered across her desk. "You can't talk that way about a teacher!"

"Well, excuse me, Princess, for not liking people who lock me up in rooms full of dorks and wannabes!" barked Kaito back.

"I guess you dislike the general police populace of Japan then," came Xander's voice from his place at the back of the lab "With you probably having been an honored guest of every prison in this country and all that."

"Why you… AARGH!" growled the Nishimura and kicked the door one more time with all his might. Nothing happened, aside from Kaito stubbing his toe.

"Try using that big empty head of yours. It'll surely budge," quipped Xander once more. Kaito's threatening 'hnnn' only seemed to give him more ammo "Cute. Can you grunt the whole alphabet that way?"

"Are you _trying_ to get your butt kicked?" growled the delinquent and flexed his fingers.

"Nah. Just finding ways to amuse myself and pass time. Cause this is all so boring, y'know," shrugged the Yamashita.

"I'll give you boring!" roared Kaito and lunged at the other boy.

Willis and Hiro were about to get up and somehow try to stop the would-be carnage but Suki interfered faster.

"Please, all of you, calm down," pleaded the girl with a forced mature voice and positioned herself between the two would-be fighters "There's no need for violence. Kaito, not every problem is solved by punching things," the blue-haired girl said with wide eyes full of compassion. "I think your behavior indicates problems at home and on the inside you are just an angry child who wants to come out and play knowing he is safe."

"And you, Xander," Suki sighed as she turned her 'good-samaritan' gaze at the boy "Your constant sarcastic behavior and need to anger others show signs of a lot of bottled up pain, perhaps a painful memory of the past you are trying to forget. I suggest seeing a professional."

Xander gaped and stared, and wondered what to do, wordless for the first time in many years, when Hiro mercifully decided to help. "Don't mind her," he mouthed at the other boy and clumsily asked his sister to proof-read his essay in hopes of diverting her attention. A disgruntled Kaito glared ominously at Xander before turning the closest chair around and plopping down on it.

"Aww, come on, guys!" Willis quipped while trying to force cheerfulness into his voice. Unsuccessfully. "No need for us to tear our throats out. We should be positive and, uhm, turn this stupid situation around to our advantage. Like… like in The Breakfast Club!"

The other teens in the room looked at the foreign boy quizzically, save for Xander, who asked as snarky as ever:

"You haven't watched a movie in how many years exactly?"

"Gee, come on! It's a good one," protested Willis and explained the basics of the plot to his bored audience. Kaito just let out his signature 'hnn' but Suki looked ecstatic of the idea of student-to-student bonding. And if Xander guessed correctly, the chances of somehow veering him and Kaito in the Light, Cheery, Rule-obeying Side. But hope appeared once again when Takahiro expressed his disapproval.

"Meh, sounds boring as hell to me. I'll pas-" Xander was surprised Suki's glare didn't bore a whole through her brother's skull. "Then again, count me in!" squeaked the boy with false cheerfulness.

"Well, it does kinda beat staring at the walls and doing nothing," Xander admitted when Suki's turned her now big pleading eyes to him "Least we know who's gonna fill the role of the Brainless one," smirked the teen at Kaito.

"I hope you've written your will already 'cause I'm gonna-" the Nishimura rose threateningly from his place but a gentle arm placed on his shoulder by a very-wide eyed Suki managed to subdue his righteous anger. "You're lucky that she's in here to save you, you pussy!

"Indeed. Whatever shall I do without her," the Yamashita retorted with a bland voice.

"Sheesh, stop it already," Willis said in a vain try to defuse the situation. "That's no BC camaraderie I'm seeing here. Heh."

"I guess BC does stand for Basket-Case in _your_ case, doesn't it," Xander sniggered.

"For goodness' sake, Xander, would it hurt you not to mouth off at others for at least five minutes?"sighed Suki and pinched the bridge of her nose in hopes of driving away the impending headache.

"No idea, Princess. Never actually tried it," was the nonchalant response she got. And to Xander she looked like she was going to scream. But apparently Suki really could pull off the proper lady attitude very successfully. The blue-haired girl took a deep breath and, after straitening her hair and skirt, took a chair of her own and put it next to Kaito's. "I suggest we gather round and play some variation of Truth or Dare or something," she said with a wide smile full of pearly-white teeth.

"I'll go first then," Kaito suddenly exclaimed with a sincere smile that somehow disturbed the others and hinted at impending trouble. "And I'll start with Princess. Truth or dare?"

Suki looked deeply in thought, probably weighing what kind of gruesome dare Kaito could come up with and if her secrets were worth it. But what really made her look up in surprise was when Xander's voice cut her musings short.

"I'm not normally one to ruin a game or something, but keep in mind that chances are, if you choose dare he'll make you make-out with either him or your own brother. Not like I'd care but, uhm, y'know… ahem."

"Did you just give me a sincere warning?" Suki muttered in disbelief and beamed at the prospect that her psychological analysis from earlier was probably helping Xander. "Okay then, I pick truth."

"Whatever, Princess, like I care," Kaito shrugged and tried masking the anger that the other teen had foiled his perfect plan. "Have you ever… done anything a bad girl would do in your life. But not something small but something… y'know, rule-breaking."

"Of course not," Suki replied with disdain and bridled up I'm a proper lady and-"

"-And she's lying," laughed Takahiro and barely resisted from snorting when he saw his twin's betrayed and angered look. "Are you going to tell them or should I?"

"Well, I, uhm," Suki stammered and glared once more at Hiro "last year I lost a bet, to Hiro of all people, and he… made me get a tattoo," finished the 'proper lady' and hid her ashamed face behind the veil of her long hair.

"Heh, who'd've thought Princess was into that. Where is it?" laughed Kaito and mockingly wiped a tear from his eye.

"Nowhere you're gonna see, punk," growled Hiro as he entered Big Protective Brother Mode once more and rose up from his chair.

"Relax, Hiro, it's my turn now," said Suki and smirked at Kaito. "Okay, Nishimura, truth or-"

"Of course I'd like that, Princess," suddenly sniggered the delinquent and winked at the girl.

"Like what?"she asked in confusion.

"To get more intimate with you, didn't you just ask me that?"

"WHAT? You'd like to get intimate with my sister?" roared Takahiro and clenched his fists before suddenly blanking out for a second "Why, I'd like to do that!"

"Takahiro!" gasped Suki and hastily stepped away from her twin. "How could you!"

"What? No, no, Suki! He just asked me if I'd like to be the captain of the football team this year," explained Hiro with a laugh and pointed at Willis. "I didn't even know you were on the team," explained the other boy in confusion.

Xander was just about to ask if everyone had finally gone completely nuts when a calm, almost serene, and oh-so-trustworthy voice invaded his hearing. The world swirled around him as promises of fame and success and proving everyone wrong filled his mind. Somewhere next to him Kaito tried standing up only to fall on his back with a thud. Hiro, yawn after yawn, gave up on rubbing his eyes and sprawled himself on the nearest desk. Willis followed him to Dreamland soon after, only to lose his balance and fall over the other boy. A sleepy Suki giggled at the duo only to nod off herself right where she was standing.

And the voice kept whispering in Xander's ear, promising everything he had ever wanted, only for the price of a single nap. All he had to do was sleep, sleep, sleep…

"I'd… I'd like that," the auburn-haired boy yawned and went to sleep.

* * *

"Huh? Did… did I dose off or something?"

Alas, no one answered Xander's barely audible question. The air around him remained as still as ever, a chilling sensation now spreading across the room with no pleasant sun to warm it up. Only the eerie glow of the moon, entering through the wide opened windows, provided some kind of light in the otherwise pitch-black room.

Xander sleepily rubbed his eyes in a vain hope to clear his head. Whatever the reason, the others still appeared to be sleeping. A soft snoring could be heard from the darkened silhouettes of Willis and Takahiro, accompanied by what seemed like mumbling coming from the blond teen's backpack. Right next to Xander was sprawled Suki, mouth slightly agape as her chest rose and fell with each breath she took. The gentle beams of the moon ended up reflected by her dark blue hair and onto Kaito, still laying on the floor and trying to find a more comfortable position.

_"Betrayer."_

Xander couldn't help but shudder as the mysterious stoic voice tore apart the silence. The single word, said without an ounce of emotion, seemed to linger in the cool night air and the Yamashita was almost scared by what he would see when he turned around.

There, right next to him under the cover of the darkness, was standing a girl. How she had snuck up on him like that, he couldn't guess. The only thing he could see clearly with what little light he had were her eyes. Glassy, dead eyes that showed no emotion, no signs of life. They were just there- lifeless cerulean orbs hinting to the ever-so-stoic, statuesque expression of their owner. _"Betrayer,"_ whispered the girl once more, as if to herself.

_Splash._

Xander looked with surprise at the drop of liquid that had fallen on the cold floor tiles right in front of him. All his sense screamed 'Run!' but the teen couldn't help but outstretch his arm. The drop glistened under the moonlight. Serene. Harmless…

But when his finger touched its cold surface, everything around him was drained away.

It was as if someone had turned off the moon, leaving only the blackness of the room. And amidst all that darkness, he could hear- he could feel- the water. Raging, swirling, devouring… alive. Soon the ocean around him started giving off a light of its own. An eerie, dreadful glow seemingly affecting only the auburn-haired boy and the girl that was still standing next to him. Xander could see her clearly then- the gothic Lolita dress, the twin graying pigtails framing her emotionless face, her ghoulish white skin… She remained as stoic as ever and kept on whispering to herself, shivering all the while, and the only word Xander could understand was repeated over and over.

_"Betrayer."_

And then, amidst the raging black waters, another voice spoke. Gurgling. Mocking. Murderous.

Terrifying.

_"Your fault! Was it not? That's what you are, are you not? Guilty! It was your fault, all of it, from the beginning to the end! YOUR FAULT!"_

_"Because of you they had to go there. Because of your foolishness and arrogance and rashness. You practically helped him spring that trap by running off on your own! YOUR FAULT!"_

_"Because of you, they nearly died. Because of you, all was nearly lost. And do you know why he died? Because of you! Your fault, yours, yours, ONLY YOURS!"_

_"It is your fault for not keeping your emotions in check! You let rage cloud your judgment, fear fill your heart and pride devour your soul! You made him digivolve into that abomination! Because of you, he died! YOUR FAULT!"_

_"And in the end, you did wise to turn them down. Because you feel guilty do you not? You know that if another bonds, it would surely die, perish, wither away because of you! YOUR FAULT!"_

_"I saw what hides in the depths of your soul, mortal. You. Are. Mine!"_

Xander's screams never left his mouth. The clawed, webbed hands erupted from the darkness behind him and took hold of his neck, clawing, gripping, choking…

And as the water rose to claim its defenseless victim, the girl just kept on whispering and whispering and-

"Hey, pal, I know that you're probably sick of all of us already, but I don't think suicide is the right option."

Willis trembling voice made Xander's eyes snap open. The science lab looked right like how he had left it- save for the mysterious girl and the fact that the others seemed to have awoken. Suki was looking at him in a strange, almost apologetic kind of way, and it took the boy some time to realize that Willis was still gripping tightly his wrist and trying to yank the hand… from Xander's own throat. His own nails were etched into the bleeding skin of his neck. What really made him shudder however, was the disturbed tone of Kaito.

"You… you should dust off, Smartass. No time for napping anymore. The door's finally open."

* * *

"They are coming. I guess it is time to see what you are made of, eh, boy?" the arrogant words of the strange bat-like creature didn't seem to affect the one standing next to him in the least. The cool night breeze blew past the shady duo once more and the yellow cat-like eyes of the bat-creature bore into the ones of his companion. "Well?"

"Don't think I'm gonna back out now like some coward, DemiDevimon," said the teen and leaned on the roof's railing. The boy looked around lazily, as if to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them. The roof of Shinjuku High School, luckily- for the two conspirators that is, was as empty as one would expect from a roof of a school building late at night. Save for the two beings- one human, one Digimon- silently observing the sports grounds hidden under the veil of the night.

An eerie glow flared up for a second in the darkness as the human boy pushed back his glasses and they reflected the luminescent glow of his partner's yellow eyes. "Who would've thought that _that_ attack proved to be their downfall," snickered the teen.

"Shows how much you have to learn," spat the bat-creature from where he had perched himself on the railing. "Knowing your opponent, setting up a good trap, making sure you have the home field advantage and making sure your opponent is incapacitated in some way is three-fourths of the battle," explained the Digimon in an exasperated tone that showed that this particular topic had been discussed quite a few times before.

"Well, can't blame me for deeming Evil Lies an useless attack now, can you?" replied the other darkened silhouette with annoyance "Most of the time, putting your opponent to sleep by whispering to him false promises doesn't work quite well in battle."

The Digimon's fluorescent eyes showed that the creature was smiling, although none could guess that by his stern tone. "Oh, my little foolish boy, real battles are decided before even beginning. Only fools rely on brute strength or making critical decisions in a heated moment. And let me tell you something- fools aren't remembered by history. The prepared ones are. And what's taking them so long? Don't they have to be out already?"

"Hey, I did my part- the only way out is through the gym and that leads straight to us. And I made sure that the only way out of the second floor leads to the gym, so they should be here any second now. Not my fault if they are too stupid to find the way," growled the teen with contempt.

"And there's still that little problem with the American boy. He has a partner on hand but I can't say how strong that partner is. When we strike, we strike at it first. And make sure it counts," smirked the bat-creature and his eyes glowed even more ominously in the night.

Another gust of wind forced the lazy clouds to pick up their pace on their travel through the sky and the moon's light shone upon the scheming duo for several brief moments. The Digimon became visible for a moment- a winged, almost spherical, bat-like creature whose true face was forever partially obscured by a dark blue mask sewn over it. DemiDevimon stared intently at his partner as the boy kept on pretending he was very interested with the nearby score board of the school football field. Alas, the human kept on gripping the railing ever so tightly and in the end the bat-creature had no choice but to ask with a frustrated sigh, "What's wrong now?"

"You can't run away from a battle just because the opponent can fight back!"replied the boy after a brief moment of silence. "We made sure I can digivolve you today, why be scared by-"

_"Enough!"_ the hidden anger in the creature's command reverberated into his partner's mind "Run away? _Run away?_ There is no point in fighting a battle that does not promise you a clean victory. What good is winning if your opponent manages to hurt you enough to weaken you for any future battles? Yes, breaking through the Gate nearly deleted me and passing through the Veil weakened me even more! You can digivolve me and I know I can beat that boy's partner even if it can digivolve, too! But I know I can't do it with one hit in an open battle."

"You have a lot of potential, boy," continued the Digimon with the faintest trace of sincere care in his voice "So much raw anger, such wrath just waiting to come out and crush your enemies! But you have to harness that wrath. Fleeing from a battle is nothing to be ashamed of. Bide your time, live to fight another day, plot and scheme and make sure that when next time comes, there won't be a need to battle. And-"

The bat-creature's abrupt stop drew the full attention of his partner who had kept staring at the score board in something akin to shame during the whole time. DemiDevimon's eyes dilapidated even more and he sniffed the night air with a low hiss.

"They are coming," the bat informed his partner "but they are not the only ones who have come to pay us a visit," finished he with disgust and pointed at the field with a tattered wing.

A lone pale girl was standing under the moonlight in the center of the football field and her lifeless eyes bore into the group of shocked teenagers that had just exited through the gym doors. The duo on the roof watched with interest as water started leaking out from under the newcomer's feet- ghastly water that refused to reflect the gentle beams of the moon and somehow looked even blacker than the night engulfing their surroundings. And then, just like that, the girl melted into the air and a lone word riding on the cool wind reached the partner and Digimon observing the scene from the roof.

_"Betrayer."_

Just as suddenly, a lone hand appeared out of the tainted puddle. A short rocky hand that ended up belonging to a little humanoid creature, seemingly made entirely out of rock. Its ecstatic shouts tore apart the silence that had descended around the whole school with the arrival of the ghostly girl.

"Free. Free! FREEDOM! Come on, guys, it's safe here! We can escape him at last! Come on, while there's still time. FREEDOM!"

"We are pulling out," declared DemiDevimon and earned himself a glare from his partner "One too many players have joined our little game of chess. Besides, some of those Digimon could end up doing our work for us. A victory is still a victory, even if you are not the one slaying your enemies."

After a second or two, the bespectacled teen agreed with a sigh and turned to leave when his partner cut him off once more.

"We are not walking. Digivolve me and I will fly us out of here. The energy spike that girl sent made even my dulled senses cringe- those two buffoons sent by the Sovereigns will be here any minute now. And besides," added the Digimon and looked around with a threatening hiss "there are other players joining the game, not only that one we saw. And whoever they are, they are doing a darn good job of hiding from me."

The shout of a certain blue-haired girl filled the air as the teen did just what his partner had told him to do.

* * *

Xander's brain refused to believe it. All day long he had pondered over his unwanted digital guests and all afternoon he had cursed his fate for getting in detention on the first day of school. And he hadn't even done anything wrong in the first place- Blitzenheim had just assumed he was guilty by just being there. The whole day had seemed like some surreal nightmare, a bad dream that was 'bad' just because of its absurdity and strangeness. Digimon messengers for breakfast, detention for lunch, Blitzenheim's mind-annihilating rant for an afternoon snack, and hallucinations for dinner- those he could handle. Somehow.

If barely.

But this…

The teen's obsidian eyes widened even more as the specter of a pond in the middle of the field grew even larger in size. More and more Digimon surged out and just kept on adding one more entry after another in the list of invaders into his normal, relatively peaceful and naturally teenage angsty life. The cold wind picked up its pace once more and the clouds once again resumed their careless journey. One of them passed in front of the moon, but hiding the celestial body's light didn't help hide the severity of their situation. The rush of digital creatures of all shapes, sizes, colors and oddities refused to cease.

His other senses, having shut down due to the initial shock, gradually started returning. First came his hearing- and with it, Suki's terrified blood-curdling shrieks. Xander could hear a very distressed Takahiro behind him trying to comfort his sister. The noise of the Digimon horde also didn't go by unnoticed. But what really grabbed the Yamashita's attention was the smell- his nose seemed to be suddenly inhumanly sensitive. A thousand different scents filled the air and the boy could distinguish the smell of exotic flowers coming from the plant Digimon, the wet fur of the beasty ones and even the scaly skin of the reptiles. Or maybe it was just his imagination, reminding a boy which thought he had outgrown that long ago what had the Digital World smelled like, felt like.

To his surprise, the amount of Digimon coming out seemed to decrease. Less and less came out and the majority of the ones who had passed over started scattering around. But Xander dared not hope for anything- being the butt of the Universe's sick jokes for a whole day was one thing but… things had stopped being even remotely funny when he had tried to tear his own throat out.

Xander slowly looked around and tried not to attract the Digimon's attention but a quiet voice inside him did wonder why he even bothered- the ones running around them were obviously not interested in a group of strangely acting humans. If those shrieking critters even knew how humans looked or should act like- Xander noticed that none were above the Rookie level. Maybe if the group walked away slo-

With a deafening roar that sent Suki into a sobbing fit yet again, another hand appeared from beneath the surface of the ghastly waters. The creature slowly hauled itself out and looked around in surprise. The clouds moved away from the way of the moonlight yet again and the group managed to get a good look of the bigger Digimon. Pure white fur covered the muscular body of the gorilla-like creature, save for its chest and abs which were a dull black color. One could have surely mistaken it for some rare kind of a white ordinary gorilla, if not for the massive energy canon that was serving it as a substitute for a right arm.

The gargantuan primate sniffed the air and his hoarse voice managed to overpower the chaotic chatter of the crowd and even Suki's uneven sobs.

"Freedom? Free. At last! I am finally FREE!"

Gorillamon. Champion level. And that meant no childish behavior to keep him busy from crunching them and then using their bones as toothpicks. A sudden movement came from Xander's right and he had to keep himself from cringing- the Yamashita had been so busy staring at the last one to pass the threshold of the two worlds that he had completely forgotten about his unfortunate companions.

"Let's move back. Very slowly. Whatever you do, stay out of the big one's attention," Willis whispered and tried sounding calm but his voice was more high-pitched then he had obviously intended. Apparently he had been the first one to snap out of the shock. Xander couldn't help but wonder if the American just had logical thinking or really knew what they were facing. Xander glanced at the blond teen and for a moment tried to guess what was he thinking behind those blue eyes of his. The Yamashita couldn't know if he was imagining it or not, but the look of the other boy was how he pictured his own face at the moment. Surprised. Confused. Out of place. But knowing damn too well what they were facing.

With a silent nod of understanding, the auburn-haired boy decided to leave his questions for later, if such later ever came that is, and took hold of one of Suki's arms. A very distressed Takahiro nodded as well and the trio started slowly pulling back, accompanied by a very nervous Willis and an extremely pale Kaito. The lack of any explanatives from the delinquent showed Xander just how shocked and, most certainly, scared the other teen was. He would have found it even funny and pointed it out with a sarcastic remark, if not for the probability of a rampaging gorilla made out of data making midnight snacks out of them. And then the Universe decided to screw up his life even more.

"Free-" the gorilla's eyes suddenly came across the fleeting group of humans. Only the way they dilapidated was enough to show off the wrath of the creature, but apparently he decided that a blood-chilling roar was even better "YOU! You will not take be back, you hear me? NEVER!"

Seeing the albino beast lunging at them at full speed did wonders to Kaito's resolve. The delinquent practically howled 'Run, you idiots!' and after tearing Suki out of the two other's hands, picked her up bridal style and dashed back towards the building. The rest didn't hesitate to follow his example. Alas, the Universe had apparently decided to target Takahiro next. The unlucky blue-haired teen tripped over something unseen in the darkness and ended up face-first into the wet grass covering the football field.

Xander cursed his and Takahiro's unfortunate luck once more and grabbed Willis by the sleeve to get his attention. The two foreign boys swiftly grabbed their companion and hoisted him back up on his wobbling legs but, alas, Gorillamon was already within firing range.

"Energy Cannon!"

Time seemed to have suddenly decided to slow its flow for no apparent reason. But then again, Xander asked himself, maybe it was not time but him. Maybe he was just seeing things that way because he was actually going to die in mere seconds. But whether it was time or himself, the energy beam cutting through the darkness of the night and lighting everything on its path remained as slow as ever. Willis just stood next to him like frozen and Takahiro tried pulling him away, his screams falling in deaf years as all Xander could see was his moving lips. And his own body just refused to move faster and surpass the boundaries of time. What good it was, seeing everything in slow-motion, if he couldn't do a darn thing. Heck, probably just the Universe wanted to have one last long laugh at him before all ended. For him, that is.

"Not on my watch ya won't! TERRIER TORNADO!"

Time resumed its original pace just as fast, but to Xander things seemed to be running on fast-forward now. The deadly beam of light shot towards them with incredible speed. Willis' backpack suddenly burst open and for a fleeting moment the Yamashita saw a cream-white-and-green long-eared Digimon that swirled into a greenish vortex just as fast and positioned itself on the path of the beam. The two attacks collided and for a second it seemed that the living twister would prevail. Then the sound of an explosion filled the air and the dog-bunny hybrid was shot back and came to abrupt halt after skidding through the rough ground several times.

"Terriermon!"

Willis jerked back his head with enough force that it snapped. The Gorillamon growled once more and took aim yet again- only for a green blur to appear out of nowhere and whack the albino Digimon's head with a giant bone club. Ogremon's form appeared out of the ordinary to Xander- only for him to realize a second later that the digital oni was still carrying the chest with the Digi-Eggs on his back. Must had been really in a hurry to help them, the Yamashita guessed- otherwise he would had surely left them behind. Alas, the precious package proved to be Ogremon's outdoing. Trying to keep it out of harm cost him the free use of a hand- something that would had really came in handy in such a brawl. Gorillamon quickly shrugged off the surprise attack and with his two strong legs pushed the green foe off him. Ogremon landed several meters back. Right onto the chest.

The container burst open and what were once, or at least looked like, wooden planks quickly dissipated into floating bits of data. The tree precious eggs bounced off the wet ground due to the impact and a severely distressed Ogremon managed to grab only one with his free hand. The other two tumbled off in different directions and Gorillamon picked that as the moment to fire off his laser attack in a fit of blind rage. The energy beam dug crevices in the ground and as everyone ducked for cover, Xander could see the fear for the eggs in the ogre's eyes. And then Takahiro did something that everyone, his sister included, deemed very, very, too-stupid-to-live stupid. He rushed into the line of fire to get the eggs.

Two odd eggs guarded by some odd scary creature battling another scary creature that he had barely learned that even existed mere minutes before. But due to some unknown reason- be it Fate, Destiny or just pure coincidence- Takahiro dived in to save them.

After barely being missed by the killer light show of the digital King-Kong, the gold-eyed boy put all his hopes in a final leap of fate. The beam somehow missed him yet again and surged right passed the eggs. The blue-haired teen had just managed to get his trembling hands on one of them, only for the other to be blown away… right into Suki's shaking hands. Takahiro looked ready to flash some goofy smile completely unbecoming of the dire situation when he noticed the primate Digimon looming over him. The albino gorilla had decided to take things up close and personal. He reared back his enormous fist and before even the beast opened its mouth, Xander- and if he guessed correctly, Willis as well- knew which words were going to be the last ones Hiro would hear.

"Power Lift-"

"Beast Sword!"

The gorilla's breathing came to an abrupt stop as the bestial warrior glanced at the humanoid lion that had snuck next to him with lightning speed. Leomon's signature machete was rammed into the other Digimon's chest to the very hilt. Even under the veil of the night Xander could see the blurring of the white beast's form. As his body became more and more unstable and pixilated, Gorillamon growled one last time before bursting into a thousand specks of data and leaving a strange floating light ball hanging in the air.

"You will… not… take me…back!"

"Forgive me, my brother, for having to put an untimely end to your life," whispered Leomon with respect.

Just when Xander believed that the end to the surprises had finally come and nothing could possibly hope to top that… the Universe proved that it was not yet tired of mercilessly proving him wrong. A bright light suddenly erupted from Suki and Takahiro's hands and shot up to the night sky, tearing apart the veil of the night in the process and illuminating everything around the twins. Willis nearly dropped the injured Terriermon who he had just carefully picked up when the light dissipated and a pair of Digimon resembling an oversized blue drop and a miniature sun appeared into, respectively, Suki and Takahiro's hands. And then even the blue-haired girl's renewed shrieks of surprise were silenced when another light erupted shortly from seemingly random places in the grass. It didn't take long for Xander to guess that they were from the Digivices that had scattered upon the breaking of the chest.

A very surprised Leomon stared at the giggling digital creature into the hands of the very confused boy lying in front of him. After scratching the back of his head and pinching the bridge of his snout to drive away the impending headache, the formerly lone bestial warrior grumbled:

"Ogremon, I think we have a_ lot_ of explaining to do."

* * *

"Run a full scan on it once more! Analyze that data some time tonight! Inform the shock troops! And someone, please give me a damn cup of coffee!"

The stern, and at the moment- rather angry, voice of the well-dressed man seemingly just entering his 'golden years' reverberated from the high ceiling and monitor-covered walls of the dome-like chamber. Trios and duos of shocked and rapidly-sweating scientists and government agents ran around like headless flies, each of them trying to somehow help subdue the chaos raging around them and in turn just creating more of it. The feeling of total disorientation was strengthened by the constant howling and beeping of various alarms and the flaring up of one enormous computer screen after another. Actually, the rapidly-changing lights emanated by the dozens upon dozens of displays were the only things that provided some form of lighting in the otherwise dark chamber.

As the elderly man tried taking a deep breath and slowing down his heartbeat, a confident, albeit very baffled voice, came from somewhere above and somehow managed to be louder than the cacophony currently raging around.

"Take a breather, sir. We wouldn't want you passing out on us right now. You're not young anymore, y'know."

"Why how nice of you to be concerned about me, Richard," the gentleman with a graying goatee and ponytail replied as he looked up. "Now give me a full status report."

High above the bustling crowd, right in the center of an enormous spherical hologram currently representing possibly the biggest map of Tokyo, was perched a lonely figure, surprisingly that of a teen or at most a young adult if one judged by his size and voice. The speaker didn't bother to look down from his mechanical suspension throne as the contraption constantly changed position as if just by his will and took him to one part of the hologram or another. Possibly two dozens of red lights flashed around the holographic map in various directions and the bright bursts provided a reasonably good explanation as to why the boy on the mechanical chair was sporting a strange pair of high-tech visors.

"On the contrary to what we thought we had at hand," shouted the one identified as Richard so he could be heard over the bustle of the crowd "the situation ain't so bad after all, sir. Yeah, I've never seen so many Digimon rushing out of the same gateway before but actually the strongest of them are just Rookie level. And that's just several of them. I managed to put a Barghest on 24 of them, possible missed a dozen max. The worst will have to deal with is probably vandalism and some drunks stumbling upon them."

"Vandalism?" came a squeaky voice from somewhere deep inside the tangled crowd "But vandalism means violence and then the army will reply with violence and then the Digimon will Digivolve out of violence AND THEN THEY'LL WRECK THE WHOLE CITY!"

"Kunemon, take a chill pill and come up here, kay? Someone's gonna squash you down there," said Richard without looking down and kept interacting with the various hologram interfaces. Not longafter, a yellow oversized caterpillar with black lightning marks all over his body zoomed up the suspensions holding up the mechanical throne and perched himself on top of Richard's head.

"There was a Champion that managed to Realize," continued with his report the teen "but apparently he got deleted. Possibly by the two other Champions that slipped past us this morning. But those two are kinda fuzzy. Can't get a good reading on them. And after the initial spike there was another big surge that died out as fast as it had appeared- as if it was trying to mask its presence. That signal fled the place before the surge even began- like it was running away or something. And shortly after losing the signal of the Champion that Realized minutes ago the system picked up two more power surges. Big spikes that died out just as quickly. But I think they are still in the vicinity of the school," several seconds passed before the teen buried his face in his hands in frustration "Aaargh! I can't make heads or tails out of this! All the feedback by the satellites has been jammed by that initial power surge that tore the Veil!"

"I want explanations, Richard!" shouted the white-haired man from the bottom of the chamber "How come they are jamming us when we should be jamming them? And why did the system become all erratic earlier when that happened?"

"No idea, sir," admitted the teen "But whatever caused that power surge, the signal is none we've ever seen. That's why it crashed- Sibyl is not used to such amount of data flaring up. And the frequency of the signal didn't help. It's all… jumbled up. Heck, that's not even in the system registry. The signal was unknown but familiar in a way, so that's why Sibyl acted all erratic- on top of being overworked, the system didn't know what to do. A complete crash. That's why some of them got away without a tracer attached. I had to put all the Barghest on them manually. While keeping the whole system from totally turning off and leaving us completely blind if I may a-"

_"Sir, I ran the scans you requested,"_ suddenly announced a booming female voice seemingly coming out of nowhere _"you are not going to believe this but- the signal- it's, it's not from the Digital World."_

The last statement managed to somehow put a halt to the bustling of the crowd and grabbed everyone's undivided attention. The elderly man could only stammer and his words would have been probably left unheard if not for the sudden silence that had descended upon the chamber.

"How- how come 'not from the Digital World'?"

_"I ran the scans a dozen times, sir,"_ said the voice_ "but the results are the same every time. The signal which tore the Veil is similar in many ways but at its core, it's a completely different one. That's why Aegis didn't even try to stop it- it recognizes only the main frequency and that one just wasn't in his directives. Same with Excalibur and Naegling- they couldn't delete the data because that strange signal's code kept them from reaching the Digimon which they could affect. Some good now that they are all in our world,"_ finished the speaker with a sigh.

"So, Rei-chan," asked Richard with forceful cheerfulness as he tried to hide his annoyance and ignored the 'humph' coming from the other side "you're telling me that my programs and my perfect genius monitoring system didn't work just because that code's termination wasn't on their 'to do' list?"

_"Pretty much, yes."_

"Aw, nuts!"

"Nuts? You got any? Cause I'm hungry," announced Kunemon from atop Richard's head.

"I guess you are going to spend another all-nighter fine-tuning your perfect creations then, Ritchie, my boy," came the white-haired man's smug reply from below.

"Y'know, an all-nighter isn't that bad, sir," quipped Ritchie "considering you're going to be the one telling the Chief Cabinet Secretary how many Digimon we let running loose around the streets of Tokyo tonight."

A moment of silence.

_"Aw, nuts!"_


	5. Once More, With Disdain

AN: **NovelistOfTheSky** and **Heilos Star**, you've my sincere thanks for your reviews. Please stay tuned. xD I'm really flattered by your rpaise and I'll strive to get even better. And Heilos Star, rest assured, Ogremon will be one of ther ecurring characters along with his Simba budy. I'm just easing the characters into the adventure now and still in the process of introducting many of them. Next chapter's gonna be an action-oriented one, tho. Don't miss it.

* * *

**_Chapter 4:_**

**_Once More, With Disdain_**

"_How many times do I have to tell you, Ikeda? To. The. Right!"_

The young man barely resisted the urge to cringe and his hand hastily shot at the volume regulator on the communication device placed in his ear. Daichi Ikeda just grunted in response and ran a hand through his black cropped hair in a vain attempt to control his emotions. The scorching April sun didn't help his current situation much and the boy silently cursed the weather before looking around for the umpteenth time.

Unsurprisingly, nothing had changed since the last time he had scanned the area with his tired hazel eyes. Which had been- relatively speaking- around a minute ago. The dull gray walls of the buildings surrounding him remained as dirty, boring and unchanged as ever. Somehow, even under the wrath of the blazing sun, the backstreets of Shinjuku had remained as shady as ever. But, to Daichi's disappointment, that didn't mean that they weren't just as stifling as the rest of the crowded city. Dust clouds rose from the dirty pavement from time to time when the dry wind blew past the boundaries of the claustrophobic labyrinth of back streets and shady alleys. Even the occasional holes in the cracked pavement were empty, somehow miraculously free from the usual puddles of dirty rain water that gathered inside them. And the smell! It was at moments like that one that Daichi wondered why he had accepted entering the government program. Not like he had had much of a choice really but sending him on a mission at this stinking place? That was too cruel even for Miura.

"_What are you waiting for, the __cavalry? I'm gonna say it again, slowly this time so your bean of a brain could understand me. They are at the end of the alley on your right. Now hurry up and do your job. I don't have all day, y'know,"_ reminded with agitation the boy on the other side of the line. Daichi clenched his teeth to resist the urge to tell the smart-mouth that was coordinating his mission to shut up. The Ikeda once again surveyed the narrow dusty alley to his right but save for a couple of stinky garbage buckets and a lone rat trying to escape from a very hungry stray cat, the alley remained as empty as ever.

"I'm telling you, Miura, there's nothing there- it's a dead end. Nothing but a brick wall at the end of the alley," replied Daichi and tried to keep his voice down and sound as professional as possible. The black-haired boy was just tugging the collar of his green short-sleeved shirt in a vain attempt to cool himself when the answer came.

"_Well, duh, genius, they are on the other side of the wall. The alley doesn't end there, y'know. Now giddy up and haul your butt over the wall because from what I see through dino-boy's eyes, things are going to get more heated then they already a__re." _

"Like I could take any more heat," thought Daichi with disdain as he tried to climb over the wall using the rusty buckets and broken crates piled near the wall as a staircase.

"_Richard, are you giving him grief again?" _suddenly came another voice from Daichi's ear-piece, this one female. _"I'm sorry I wasn't here on time, Daichi. The results from last night needed a lot more examining than any of us thought."_ Before the black-haired boy could reply to the girl, Richard's annoyed voice cut him off.

"_Daichi, huh? On a first-name __basis with Rei-chan, huh, Ikeda? Well, maybe if you didn't spend lunch breaks getting acquainted with her and instead worked on your abysmal orientation skills, Dino-boy wouldn't be facing the danger all alone now."_

"_Miura, what have _I _told _you _about first-name basis? Hypocrite_!" accused the girl and Daichi could just picture her bridling up in her technological throne at that moment. Alas, the picture of his fellow soldier being torn apart that Richard had just painted in his mind was still fresh so Daichi doubled his pace and finally managed to peer over the wall.

Indeed, the alley did continue on the other side. There, amidst a lot of garbage cans rolling on the dusty ground stood a very peculiar duo. The one closer to Daichi and with his back to him was his partner. A dinosaur the size of a 13-year-old with navy blue skin covered in what looked like pixilated camouflage. But the strangest thing about the blue dino was most certainly the fact that he was sporting the uniform of a professional soldier, helm included, and was wielding a M16. Said rifle was currently aimed at the other Digimon in the immediate vicinity. A small child-like creature with gray body made exclusively out of rocks. Said rock-creature glared at the commando-dino facing him but what had probably been intended as a threatening look came out more as if the creature was attempting to bend a spoon with the power of his mind. Daichi, one leg still on the other side of the wall, sent the rock Digimon an unamused look and said with a forced cal voice into his ear-piece:

"Facing the danger all alone, huh? You got me thinking he was facing an Ultimate or something when we were chasing after a Gotsumon?"

"Well, I had to make you haul your butt over faster so I thought the idea was good. As you can see, it worked," Richard replied while trying to hold his laughter.

"_Miura! How could you make him so worried! Apologize!"_ ordered Rei's stern voice.

"_Aw, Rei-cha-"_

"_Miura!"_

"_Fine, fine! I am sorry, Ikeda, what I did was really really bad. Now do your job so I can finally go and find something to eat! I've stayed up all night, y'know!"_

"Okay, okay," sighed Daichi with annoyance and hoisted his other leg over the wall. After landing on the ground with a dull thud and kicking up another cloud of dust, the Ikeda ordered his partner "Commandramon, initiate engagement protocols!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" answered the blue dinosaur and the tip of one of his metal claws found its place on the trigger of the rifle. The Gotsumon didn't seem to like the unwanted guests but instead of running away, he stepped forward and pointed a threatening finger at the human-Digimon duo.

"Step away, peasants, this is my kingdom now!"

"Your kingdom?" laughed Daichi "Sorry to burst your bubble shorty, but you aren't the king of anything. Now shall we do this the-"

"SILENCE!" bellowed the Gotsumon "I am a king…. for I have a crown!" he announced and pulled a small rusty bucket out of the nearby pile and proudly placed it on top of his head.

"_Oooh, this one I've __got to see," _snickered Richard from the other end of the line and his voice was accompanied by Rei's giggles. Commandramon's claw twitched on the trigger.

"Sir, shall I?"

The Ikeda's silent nod told the commander-dino all he needed to know. The trigger clicked ominously and the M16 spewed a single energy bullet which ended up knocking the bucket off the rock-creature's head and shattering it into a million pieces.

"That was a warning shot," informed Commandramon "Come with us peacefully or we shall be forced to take the necessary measures."

"Why you!" shrieked the Gotsumon and one could easily imagine that steam was coming out of his horn-like rocky ears. "Taste the power of my mighty stone knuckles!" roared the little Digimon and lunged at the other Rookie. Commandramon held his ground and didn't even blink until the Gotsumon neared him and prepared to strike.

"M16 Assassin!"

Another shot was fired from the rifle and the bullet pierced the Gotsumon mid-air. The stone-clad Rookie didn't even realize that he had been hit until he burst into a million shining bits of data. Only a single white sphere of energy was left floating in mid-air but its light failed to be noticed by anyone due to the already bright day. In the end, the sphere flickered out of existence as well and Commandramon prepared to absorb the rest of the data and make himself stronger.

"Commencing data absorb- huh?"

Somehow, instead of rushing towards the blue dinosaur's body and adding themselves to his data, the dozens upon dozens of energy specks passed by the victor without even noticing him and flew over Daichi's head.

"Gotta thank you there, bub," announced the small creature standing on top of the wall "I woulda zapped him myself to absorb his data but y'know how things are round here. You snooze, you lose."

"Who the heck are you?" questioned the Ikeda and pointed an accusing finger at the newcomer. Commandramon immediately trained his rifle on the other Digimon.

"S'cuse me, pal, but I ain't doing no business with ya humans," snorted the creature and hopped off the wall and right next to a very agitated Commandramon whose rifle was still aimed at the newcomer.

Now that the creature wasn't standing directly in front of the bright sun, Daichi managed to get a better look at it. It wasn't the biggest Digimon around- it was in fact a whole head shorter than Commandramon. The Digimon had some similarities to the Gotsumon- but they ended when one stopped comparing them to a kid in a Halloween costume. The apparent Rookie was light blue in color and wearing a pair of black pants. It even had a pair of dark blue shoes- from which protruded a set of three very sharp-looking red claws. Something looking like a pair of small wings was sticking out of the creature's back but for some reason they were curled around the Digimon's torso and connected together with an ornamented golden chain.

"You ain't weak lookin' y'know," muttered the blue Digimon as he examined the commander-dino "Yeah, now that's a genius idea!" suddenly announced the newcomer and threw his hand that sported long crimson claws up in the air. Now that the creature had fully turned around Daichi managed to get a good look at his face as well- it was mostly covered by a black mask and there weren't even holes for the eyes. In fact, where the holes should have been were painted two big funny-looking cat-like eyes. One red and the other- green. Only the creature's mouth filled with pearl-white sharp teeth was not covered by the mask. But what really threw the Ikeda off the loop was the fact that another set of eyes, real, living eyes, were seemingly planted into the Digimon's palms. They matched the color of their respective ones drawn on the mask but seemed to have a life of their own. One of them started spinning around wildly in its socket when it noticed Daichi staring at it.

"Name's Dracmon, bub," announced the newcomer with pride and wrapped his thin devil-like tail around the blue dino's shoulders "Listen up, chumley, here's a business proposition. You and me, bub, we can score it big time. What's your name? No, don't answer that, chum, no need to! I'll just call you Bob. You like it, right, Bob? Course ya like it! With your muscle and my brains, we'll be the kings of this world in no time! You don't need no stinkin' human to order ya around! You're a wild child, Bob, I can feel it. Now let's leave this loser and go-"

A very angry Commandramon fired a single shot at Dracmon's feet and prompted the blue vampire to jump back. The bloodsucking Rookie shook his fist at him and smirked while looking with disdain at his fellow Digimon.

"So that's how it's gonna be, eh, chumley? Pfft, like I need ya human-serving butt anyway! You, my snout-faced friend, are in for it now! Big time!"

"That was just a warning shot," said the blue dinosaur with an annoyed voice and bared fangs "Surrender or face the consequences."

"Hah! Like you can stand up to me, Snout-face! Eye of Nightmare!" bellowed Dracmon and thrust his hands in Commandramon's direction. Aside from the eyes embed in his palms letting of a glow almost left unseen under the bright sun, nothing seemed to happen. Daichi was about to laugh out loud when he noticed his partner's yellow eyes getting dilapidated and losing focus as Dracmon pointed at the black-haired boy with a smirk.

"Now, Snout-face, steal his pants and throw them in the middle of the street!"

"WHAT! COMMANDRAMON, STOP THAT'S- AARGH!"

Daichi's shouts fell on deaf ears as his hypnotized partner lunged at him with a fierce growl and tried taking off his pants. The black-haired teen had no choice but to try and ignore Dracmon's laughter- and Richard's one that could be heard through the ear-piece- and concentrate on trying to stop a one very confused sharp-clawed dinosaur from taking of his khaki shorts and leaving him pants-less.

Suddenly, the screen of the high-tech wrist-watch device on Daichi's hand flared up and a surge of electricity shook Commandramon's body. Only for the Ikeda to get shocked as well when the surge got transferred through the dino's claws which were currently trying to unbuckle the teen's belt.

"_Daichi, are you okay?"_ nearly shouted Rei into his ear-piece "I tried to manually activate your D-Razr to shock Commandramon enough to snap him out of it. Did it work?"

"Like a charm," was the only thing Daichi could mutter as smoke rose from his now spiky hair and one very confused and nearly fried blue dinosaur in very heavy commando garb fell right on top of him.

"What, you give up after a little shock?" asked Dracmon in disappointment. The Rookie stood up from the place where he had been rolling around and laughing while watching the scene and bounced back on top of the brick wall. "You're no fun anymore. Smell ya later, suckers!"

And with a mouth still hanging open and eyes seeing colorful spots flying around, Daichi could only watch how Dracmon left the crime scene with a very cheerful laugh that bordered on outright snorting at times. Commandramon finally twitched a little and showed signs of retuning to consciousness. After the blue dino's yellow eyes finally opened, he surveyed the scene with a tired gaze. Seeing nothing but empty, and positively dirty, back alleys, he decided to look for his immediate superior who had somehow apparently disappeared. Commandramon's surprise was very big when upon trying to push himself up with one hand, his metallic claw pushed into the ground something partially soft and partially… crunchy.

"Commandramon… let go… off my face. You… crushing it!"

* * *

"He can't be very far now, can he?" wondered Daichi out loud as he followed the combat-ready Commandramon around yet another corner in the maze of back streets in Shinjuku.

"_Well, Dracmon could be on the other end of Tokyo already… or maybe he's stealing the bag of some old lady just around the corner. He must be one of the Digimon that got away without a tracer last night,"_ admitted Richard with reluctance _"That's why we can't help you with this one. You know their signal gets weaker over time if we don't tag them so unless he comes near a hundred meters of your D-Razr, you're running blind."_

"Can't you boost the range of the D-Razr? You are always bragging about how you are the genius of geniuses and all that," snickered Daichi after glancing and the watch-like white-and-silver-colored device on his wrist and wondered whether his suggestion would really work.

"_Sure__ I can,"_ quipped Richard with an annoyed voice _"but boosting the range by proxy right now would probably cause a power surge that's gonna leave you a smoking crisp. Not that I would mind that but the boss said we need all the people we can get so-"_

"_Miura!"_ shouted Rei with a stern voice and caused Daichi to cringe and turn down the volume of the ear-piece yet again.

"_Sheesh, Rei-chan, relax. There's a thing called 'sense of humor', y'know. Google i__t-"_

"_Commandramon picked up the signal of another one!"_ Rei hastily cut her colleague off and Daichi could just picture her fiddling with the various holograms surrounding her mechanical throne. _"Third alley to your right. Two signals- one of them is apparently of the ones that got away without a bloodhound last night. But it's not Dracmon's. The other is… one of the Champions that slipped past us yesterday morning. Be careful, Daichi."_

"_Yeah, Ikeda, be careful. Do you know how many paperwork I'll have to f__ill if you go and die on me now?"_ mockingly echoed Richard.

Daichi ignored both his mission controllers and glanced at the D-Razr on his wrist. The screen had flared up and after the black-haired boy pressed one of the small buttons on the edge of the device, a miniature hologram was projected just above the screen. Now watching the world through his partner's eyes, Daichi judged that, despite having beaten Champions before, this one was going to be a tough cookie to crack.

Having somehow shrugged off Miura's supposedly inescapable Barghest the morning before, this Champion had also being present at the unexplainable breach in the Veil the previous night. And from what he could see from where Commandramon was peering around the corner, the Ogremon was talking to the other fugitive Digimon.

Said rule-breaker was apparently a Rookie or a very small Champion. It was bright red and had the shape of one very ugly and mean-looking pear. It's 'head', for the lack of a better term, was adorned with a shaggy crown of yellow leaves or maybe feathers. The only other distinctive creature that the Digimon had were the two long tentacles ending up with spiked spheres that it probably used to attack. Daichi had just caught up with Commandramon and was finally able to watch the scene unfold with his own eyes when the Ogremon spoke.

"C'mon now, mate, let's find a way to take ya back home and be done with it. Tis accursed place's not suited for ya."

"Who do you think you are to tell me what to do, hmm, my mother? I'm not going back to him! NEVER!"

The pear-like Digimon let out a battle cry, as scary as the battle cry of a pear-like half-pint could be, and his tentacles lunged towards the Ogremon like arrows ready to pierce through his chest. The green oni didn't even flinch and just when it looked like his opponent was about to score a clean hit, his gruff gorilla-like hand caught both tentacles mid-air. Without even blinking, the Champion jerked back his hand and the red Digimon was hoisted towards him without even the slightest chance to struggle. The white-haired ogre pulled back his other hand as well and black-purple flames flared up around his fist.

"Pummel Whack!"

Driven by momentum, the pear-like Digimon crashed into the flaming fist of the ogre just when he had punched forward. A column of eerie flames erupted outward and scorched the nearby wall. The small Digimon was completely engulfed by the flames and after they subsided, only a glowing sphere hovering in mid-air and a cloud of data particles remained. All the data flew towards Ogremon and was absorbed, leaving the sphere to melt into thin air afterwards.

"Mind tellin' me why yer here, human?" grunted the ogre without looking back and Daichi's eyes widened when he realized that his hopes for a surprise attack had just been ruined. Commandramon's yellow eyes dilapidated but for a different reason altogether. The blue dinosaur bared his fangs and his grip on the rifle in his claws tightened. Nonetheless, Commandramon remained in his place and true to his usual behavior, ignored the urges of his digital nature.

"Orders, sir?"

Daichi hadn't even finished nodding when Commandramon jumped around the corner with a roar and positioning himself on the other side of the alley- as a soldier he knew his commander had to be outside of the possible counter-attack range- and fired his favorite rifle. Just like with the previous attack, for moment it seemed that Ogremon's broad back was going to be an easy target but at the last possible moment, the green oni took his bone club off. His swing was so much like that of a professional baseball player that the black-haired teen found a reason to smile even in the midst of the battle.

"Bone Cudgel!"

The energy connected with the bone club and seemed to have enough force for a second but then, instead of the crude weapon shattering into a million of pieces, the bullet was swatted aside. Commandramon's body tensed when he saw his attack ending up embed into the nearby wall in a center of spider-web cracks. The blue dino was about to unleash another attack, this time a wave of multiple bullets, when Ogremon unexpectedly leaped forward. Daichi didn't expect the green oni to be able to clear such a distance with a single leap but apparently Ogremon had well-trained legs. Otherwise he wouldn't have landed right in front of Commandramon and nearly shatter him with his club. The unfortunate digital commando blocked the brutal onslaught with the only thing he could- his rifle. But even Daichi could hear the cracks coming from the slowly snapping M16. It was obvious then that they couldn't do it just by themselves.

"Miura, Rei! Commandramon needs more speed! That thing is way too fast for us as it is!" shouted the teen into his wireless communicator.

"_An extra package of __speed, coming right up!"_ declared Richard and just as promised, after a second or two Daichi's D-Razr flared up. 'Speed Boost: Activate' announced the words on the screen.

The M16 was just about to snap in two and leave its owner to fend for himself when a pixilated silver glow engulfed Commandramon. A smirk appeared on the blue dino's snout and just when Ogremon thought he had won, the Rookie jumped back with break-neck speed and skidded to a stop after a couple of meters. Both Daichi and his Digimon were thinking that they had finally managed to get the upper hand when Ogremon rocketed forward even faster than before and after jolting by Commandramon, bounced off the nearby wall. The mighty flying kick sent the blue dinosaur flying and embed him into the wall at the end of the alley. Ogremon prepared to finish the battle once and for all and reared back a fist once again coated with eerie flames.

"Pummel Wha-"

"Guess again, ugly!"

The green oni was surprised for the first time in the battle when a silver whip seemingly made out of energy extended out of Daichi's D-Razr. Even more surprising was when the human whipped forward and the digital rope coiled tightly around Ogremon's hand and sent an electrical surge worth thousands of volts through his body.

"Now, Commandramon! Finish him off!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" saluted the blue dinosaur and detached a hand-bomb from his commando jacket "DCD Bomb!"

The combustible device swirled in the air after being thrown and it looked like the shocked, both literary and metaphorically, Ogremon was finally done for. Alas, the Champion level Digimon proved them wrong again. With a sudden jerk of his hand the green oni pulled Daichi towards him with enough strength for the energy whip to lose power. Commandramon's eyes widened when he saw Ogremon taking hold of his immediate superior just when the bomb was about to go off. When the explosion rocked the street and smoke filled the dirty alleys, all the blue dino could think of was that he had killed one of his own in friendly fire.

"Not bad for a Rookie, mate."

Commandramon didn't even have time to jerk his head up when something that felt like a sack of potatoes landed on top of him. 'He… let us go?' the sack seemingly mumbled with disbelief. The soldier dinosaur inspected his back to find out what was lying on top of him and to his great surprise found his partner there.

"Sir, you survived!"

"He was the one that got me out of the way. But why?" pondered the black-haired boy as he got back on his feet and helped the dinosaur resume his usual upright position as well. "We are both too tired to continue the mission today. I guess we are forced to pull out and leave it up to the other tea- what was that?"

Daichi looked around, worry clearly evident in his eyes. He was ready to let the incident with Dracmon slide but after the beating the Ogremon had just handed them… there was only so much he could take in the field of surprise. The Ikeda sincerely hoped it had just been his imagination. After all, he had heard the strange metallic sound just for a second and Commandramon didn't seem to sense anything. And besides, albeit metallic, the sound had sounded strangely like clapping. The teen was ready to dismiss it and head back to HQ when the blue dinosaur next to him raised his rifle.

"Bravo! What a show! I never thought humans could be so amusing. Too bad a Digimon had to be hurt in the process."

"Where are you? Show yourself!" shouted Daichi at the voice and he suddenly got dizzy from all the looking around at various shady corners and suspicious rooftops.

"I guess not only strength and brains, but also manners are not part of the humans' programming. Such demands are very rude, boy. Don't they teach you not to insult your superiors here? Figures," snickered the voice seemingly out of nowhere.

"There! M16 Assassin!" suddenly roared Commandramon and fired his rifle at the direction of one of the nearby roofs.

"You missed by quite a lot. Don't you think this is unbecoming of one that boasts to be as strong as you?"

Both Daichi and his partner froze. The metallic voice was now coming from… right behind them. The teen carefully turned around and was secretly glad that he kept a constant connection with Rei and even with Miura. Whoever it was that was playing with them, sounded, and somehow even felt, a lot more dangerous than the savage Ogremon.

A tall figure completely shrouded by a worn-out brown cloak was now facing the duo of government agents. The digital dino carefully aimed his rival and Daichi tried to discern some kind of a face, to find some kind of clue about who, or what, they were facing. But the newcomer's face was fully covered by the hood of his cloak and whatever was lurking beneath it was fully shadowed.

"Who are you?" asked the teen and took a slow step back.

"Again with the rude questions? When you ask someone about their name it is only fitting to tell them yours as well," said the metallic voice from beneath the tattered cowl "Regardless, I am not interested in a frail useless human such as you. Your name means nothing to me. What I am here for is this young one," admitted the cloaked figure and raised a hand to point at Commandramon. But no finger or hand appeared out of the cloak's sleeve.

"I do not fraternize with the enemy," growled Commandramon before Daichi could say anything "Show yourself and come with us peacefully or face the consequences. This is the only warning you will get."

"I pity you, child," stated the cloaked figure as calmly as ever "The humans once again thought they were the top of the food chain when they managed to create you, but they are wrong. I saw you battle today. They may have created you, brainwashed you and forced you to do their bidding, but you are still one of us on the inside. Come with me, child, join your brethren. We can help you build upon your strength and you can aid us take what is rightfully ours."

"I don't think so. Strike Claw!" roared Commandramon and lunged forward as electrical energy coated his metallic claws. It seemed that the mysterious newcomer was just going to stand and let himself be hit when, just as the blue dino was about to score a hit, his adversary seemingly disappeared.

"Aw, nuts!" groaned Daichi "How come everyone's faster than us today?"

"Maybe because you can teach that Digimon nothing but your frail human ways, boy," answered the cloaked figure from right behind the black-haired teen.

"Sir, look out!" bellowed Commandramon and once again lunged at the stranger with glowing claws. But this time, instead of disappearing, the cloaked figure moved on the offensive just as fast. Before Daichi could even blink, his partner had been slammed into the wall by the mysterious Digimon. The Rookie was then literary pinned to the wall by the five blades that protruded from the edges of the canon-adorned appendage that had come out of the cloak's sleeve. The Ikeda quickly tossed aside the question how an 'arm' so big could have been hidden underneath the tattered fabric all that time and reared back his hand in hopes that the D-Razr's electro-whip would work better that time.

Alas, before even the energy chain could appear, a tail composed of the same metal segments that constructed the creature's overly long arm shot out from underneath the cloak. The steel tail coiled around the teen like a hungry boa and hoisted him up in the air. The metal appendage kept on tightening and tightening and in the end Daichi could swear he could hear his ribs crack over his terrifying screams of pain.

"Sir!" roared Commandramon and tried to wriggle himself out from underneath the other Digimon's grip. "Strike Cla-"

"_Enough!"_

Before the blue dino could even finish calling out his attack and powering it up, the blades the creature used as fingers dug even deeper into the wall and Commandramon was left being crushed by the canon they were attached to.

But despite failing, the commando dinosaur had managed to grab the attacker's attention long enough for Daichi to wriggle one of his arms free. Praying for success to whatever god was willing to listen, the Ikeda activated his D-Razr's energy whip and swung it at his assailant. The silver chain of electricity coiled around where the creature's neck was supposed to be and the Digimon's whole boy was instantly covered with lightning jolts, hissing and whirling around like angered vipers. The electrical surge traveled through the cloaked figure's whole body and struck the blue dino and human boy trapped by him as well but despite the additional pain, Daichi didn't stop his attack. Quite the contrary, he asked for more.

"Miura, we need… more power! Raise the voltage… this guy isn't even… flinching!"

"_Ikeda, not like I care but it'll hurt you, not to mention Commandramon as well, we can't-"_

"Just do it!"

Seconds later the electrical surge seemed to explode with power and the silver jolts coursing through the trio hissed even more ominously. The cloaked Digimon stood just as silent. Unmoving. Unflinching. And as stubbornly as ever refused to let go of his victims. Commandramon's wails resonated through the stifling air and Daichi realized that he had never heard his partner actually howl in pain, no matter how hurt he had been. But he was a soldier. Just like Daichi himself. The black-haired teen knew his partner would understand the cost of protecting their world and doing their job.

"More… power!" barely shouted the human boy through gritted teeth just as Commandramon's form started to get pixilated and the blue dino's body valiantly tried to reconfigure itself somehow and escape deletion.

"_Are you insane, Daichi?"_ shrieked Rei into his ear _"Look at Commandramon, you'll end up deleting him this way! And you're getting badly hurt as well! The D-Razr can reduce only so much damage you self-inflict!"_

"He… will budge… I know it. Just a little… more," nearly howled Daichi as electricity rocked his body and he could see the skin around his D-Razr starting to blister. He wanted to throw up when aside from the view of his own partner, his own responsibility, struggling to remain alive the smell of burning hair- his own hair- invaded his nostrils. "DO IT!"

He felt the tail of the mysterious Digimon tensing a bit in preparation for the upcoming shock, the first sign he had shown of weakness, and the black-haired teen closed his eyes in wait for the last surge of electrical power that was supposed to put an end to the battle. One way or another.

But the pain never came.

Instead, the snakes of lightning whirling around the smoking forms of the trio disappeared and the angry voice of not Rei, but Richard Miura, shouted in the Ikeda's ear.

"_That's enough, Ikeda! Do you want to kill your own partner along with your sorry self! Keep your butt alive for a couple of more minutes, help's on the way. Moron!"_

The scorched teen didn't even have the strength to reply. He could only watch as the cloaked Digimon leaned closer to the still reconfiguring Commandramon and his metallic voice showed a hint of emotion for the first time. That emotions being, of course, barely restrained anger.

"Do you see it now, child? You mean nothing to this human. He thinks of you just a slave that must do his bidding. He was ready to sacrifice you just so he could defeat me. You will never get strong when you are tied to him. Think about it while you rest. If these wretched creatures even let you."

Daichi's consciousness finally slipped away when with a single swing of its tail the Digimon sent him flying. The black-haired teen skipped several meters before sliding to a stop on the dirty hot pavement. Every inch of his body screamed in pain as his burned form tried to struggle and remain awake. Alas, Daichi failed despite his bold effort to ignore his wounds and his eyelids, as heavy as lead, fell shut just when the Ikeda saw the cloaked figure let Commandramon just slide down the wall and then disappeared into thin air.

* * *

"They are late," announced Suki in a small voice from where she was leaning on the railing of the building's roof.

"Gee, Sherlock, what could have possibly given you a clue? The fact that we are standing here under the scorching sun like morons waiting for a duo of dimwits to show up and ruin our lives?" asked Xander from where he was leaning on one of the greenhouse's columns. The auburn-haired boy's obsidian eyes darted towards the girl's brother for a second but Takahiro just kept on staring emptily at the assortments of exotic plants scattered around.

Seeing that the gold-eyed boy didn't seem in the mood for barking at anyone who dared mouth off at his sister, Xander's gaze focused once again on the back of Suki. The usually energetic girl who had struck him as always ready for doing something new and helpful seemed so different now. No answer came from her unseen lips and with nothing better do to, the Yamashita just kept watching how the stifling wind so untypical of the early spring played with the girl's midnight-blue hair. The silky strands sparkled under the gaze of the blazing Sol and as they were billowed by the wind, the teen admitted that they were the only sign that showed that the girl in front of him was actually the persistent goody-two-shoes he had met at lunch the day before.

Xander uncrossed his arms and seemed like he had decided to move, to do something-anything- for a second but then the boy just uncertainly put them inside the pockets of his synthetically worn-out blue jeans. His eyes this time focused on the object right next to Suki- one of the two things that were there to remind him that the previous day had indeed happened and had not been just some hallucination caused by the abnormal heat.

The vaguely rabbit-like creature that that had been acting as a satellite to Suki since Xander had arrived was also staring at something in the distance, or at least tried to so she could emulate her human partner, and one of her small claws kept on clutching the edge of Suki's silky viridian summer dress. The light shining upon it ended up slightly reflected by the midnight-blue stripes on her two pairs of long antennae resembling bunny ears. Xander found out that he could easily doze off just by staring at the various bubble-like effects that danced around her blue stripes. Lunamon was one of those Rookies that, despite still being a battle-ready Digimon at heart, came off as a tad too cute for what people classified as a Digital _Monster_. The Digimon's mostly pink fur, big innocent eyes and generally cute appearance, combined with her rather timid nature, were the main reason for that.

"Why can't you be a bit positive for a change, Xander?" suddenly retorted the blue-haired girl, still without looking back.

"Oh, I'm positive alright. Positive that nothing good will come out of this," shot back the Yamashita but for some reason chose to avert his gaze from Suki's back. Surprisingly, it was not Takahiro that snapped at him, but Willis.

"Will you cut it out already? Things are serious, they don't need to be scared even more," he said from his place on the bench underneath the greenhouse's vine-ridden canopy.

"If you are really concerned about them, Beckenstein, you'd be telling them to stay out of this and pray each and every minute that they are not forced to participate in this madness," nearly barked the Yamashita and for the first time that day his words showed a hint of a different emotion than annoyance. Namely, anger.

"His got you there, Willis," laughed the long-eared bunny that had been sitting next to Willis on the bench with a bored look. But after his beady black eyes met with his partner's stern blue gaze, Terriermon hastily added "Not that this means they should do that or anything."

"Well, I don't care what some coward has to say!" suddenly announced Takahiro and after finally looking away from the collection of exotic plants stood up with a confident look. "I want to hear out Leomon and Ogremon and help them out if I can!"

"Yeah, Boss, tell them!" joined in a cheerful and confident voice and its owner soon jumped out of the green mini-jungle and climbed up on top of his partner's shoulders. The Rookie Digimon could best be described as a bipedal lion cub with an affinity to fire. It's red fur glistened under the sun and a confident smile was the current main feature of his slightly disproportionately large head- an illusion created by his spiky up-pointing 'hair' that had the shape of a blazing flame engulfing his head. And speaking of flames, real ones adorned the tip of his short tail and burned brightly from inside the small amulet or maybe crown, which adored his forehead.

Xander couldn't help but snicker. The fiery theme of the Digimon was somehow in full synchrony with his partner's. Or maybe Takahiro had just picked up that ridiculous outfit just to emulate Coronamon's looks. The gold-eyed boy was dressed in the most brightly orange tracksuit with blindly bright yellow stripes running along the sleeves and trouser legs that one could ever hope to find. The fire-bright clothing contrasted to such a level with the boy's natural dark blue hair color that it seemed like he had just set his ordinary clothes on fire. Fortunately, the day had been just as hot as the previous one, so Takahiro had been forced to discard the tracksuit's top after deciding that he had a better chance of fending off the heat dressed just in his scarlet T-shirt with just as blindingly white hems.

_Un_fortunately, the bright sun had also made him decide that donning a pair of black sunglasses would make him cooler both metaphorically and literally.

"You do just that, you two," smirked Xander "at least you'll act as a good distraction from your sister on the battlefield. Only someone colorblind could miss that orange tracksuit of a target that you're wearing. What's gonna be your badass nickname? The Bull's Eye?"

"Why you, coward!" spat Takahiro and took a step forward. But it never became clear whether the blue-haired boy had been serious about lunging at the Yamashita. Leomon's deep voice called out their names and the duo of digital messengers could be seen hoisting themselves over the railing on the other side of the roof.

"Did you actually climb all the way up here?" exclaimed Willis with surprise clearly evidenced in his cerulean eyes.

"No, Willis, they've obviously just taken the elevator along with the old lady we saw when we came here," explained Terriermon with false cheerfulness and hopped onto his partner's head. "So, what's the deal guys? Mind telling us what the heck is going on with… well, generally everything around here?" asked the dog-bunny hybrid and expanded his long ears as if to indicate the scope of the situation.

"We did climb," quickly replied Leomon before his green and brutish partner could start his bragging "but that is irrelevant as to why we are here for. Last night I promised you all explanations. And I intended to keep my promise," announced the bipedal lion warrior and, if that was even physically possible, buffed up his muscular chest even more "And I want to thank Alexander or providing us with a place where we can talk in piece, even if only for a short time."

"But of course, Simba," deadpanned the auburn-haired teen back "you did give me the chance to offer my assistance last night, right? Oh wait, you didn't. After insisting on escorting each of us to our homes last night you two then announced that we'll meet here today cause you know for sure that the roof of my apartment building offers some cover. Yeah, must've missed that part where you asked me about it. Silly thing, my memory."

"Wait a min, pups, where's your angry friend?" sheepishly asked Ogremon and scratched the back of his head "I'm sure that there was another one with you last night. The one with the fake hair color, remember?"

"No kidding. Since there's not even a ghost of a chance of your sophisticated memory failing you, I guess he just went on a vacation. Or maybe he's just helping some old lady cross the street," snickered Xander.

"You think so? Maybe we should wait for him then," shrugged the green oni and looked around to see whether the rest of the misfit bunch agreed to his idea. His suggestion was met with an empty look by Suki and Takahiro and Willis just grinned at him sheepishly, not knowing what to say. Just as Leomon buried his face in his hands, everyone could hear Xander whisper to himself 'That's so easy, it's not even worth a try'.

"Nishimura's obviously chickened out and not coming," interjected Takahiro before an argument could begin and then put his hands behind his head and flashed a lopsided grin "After all, he's obviously not as brave as me. I jumped to save the eggs and got a Digimon partner, right?"

"And speaking of this, I guess it's time to start explaining, Leomon," added Willis and Xander noticed him glance at a still too quiet Natsuki. "I've had a partner nearly all my life and I still don't get this situation. Not to mention I've a lot of questions of my own as well."

"I guess starting from the beginning would be the best," pondered the bipedal lion out loud before speaking loud enough for everyone to hear "Basically, our Digital World is a place parallel to yours. The Digital World came into being when the very first predecessors of modern computers started working. We don't know why or how, but when the ABC and ENIAC began their processing and after years and years of the communication system around the Earth expanding more and more a separate plane of existence was conceived. It was an empty barren wasteland that was barely even there at first, but as technology on Earth became more and more advanced, so did our world. It grew and lived off the information transmitted by your communication systems. When someone saves a building project on his computer, it has a good chance of appearing in our world. When some professor publishes his historical research on the Internet, the things and places said person is describing gain solid form in the Digital World. It is a combination of various worlds actually. The Digital World as it is today consists of desert areas, highly advanced mechanical cities as imagined by your science-fiction authors, vast jungles filled with creatures based on extinct Earth species, medieval-like kingdoms full of sorcerers, knights and castles… and, sadly, haunted areas and nexuses of darkness and evil that corrupt our world."

"Now we, Digimon, ain't easy to describe s'well," joined in the lection Ogremon "Tis agreed that we've evolved from the first primitive inhabitants of the Digital World- computer programs created by you humans that somehow ended up gaining access to the parallel world and for some reason developed a will of their own. Many Digimon are based on animals, mythical and historical figures and other things from your world. The first ones of us somehow used the information they found on the web of Earth communications to gain some physical form and that's how things have been since then. We've a more strict and usual process of evolution now. That's what we call 'Digivolution'. The more data we have, the stronger we are. And when we gather lots of it, we digivolve to our next level. "

"As you have probably already figured out," Leomon said and nodded at Coronamon who was still perched on Takahiro's shoulder and at Lunamon who was still clutching Suki's green spaghetti-strap dress "the forms of the Digimon upon hatching are very weak. But they are bypassed really fast. The very first form, the Fresh level, is just temporary and after several hours, the Digimon evolves to its In-Training form. And from then on it takes up to a few weeks until it reaches the Rookie level. Then it becomes harder. The higher levels require an enormous amount of data- to reach Champion, not to even think about Ultimate or Mega, usually the Digimon has to kill other ones to absorb their data and gather the needed amount. But that's where you, human partners, come in. The bond between a Digimon and its partner is extremely strong and it provides it with the energy needed to Digivolve. That's why yours reached Rookie in the matter of hours. But that doesn't mean reaching higher levels would be just as easy."

"But aside from being a shortcut to power for you guys, why us humans?" pondered Takahiro and scratched his chin in thought.

"You are needed as protectors. Not only for our world but for yours as well," explained Leomon "There are many evil or otherwise too ambitious Digimon who have enough power to hurt both worlds. And since their selfish quests often lead to disaster, we need someone strong and able to act on both sides of the Veil. The Veil is what we call the border between our worlds. Sometimes it weakens due to different reasons and Digimon end up crossing over. Sometimes the ambitious ones seek to come here on purpose. Sending in blindly more of us here to bring back the others would just worsen the situation and in the case of a rogue one hiding on Earth that is too strong for ordinary Digimon, we can do nothing. Our leaders and protectors, the Sovereigns and their chosen servants for example, are too strong to come here unnoticed. Also, there are times, times like this, when our leaders can sense when the darkness is rearing its head up again. But they are not omnipotent. They can't leave their domains in search for the enemy. That's where you, DigiDestined, Tamers, come in the picture."

"So," Suki finally spoke "you need our help to protect two worlds? But why not adults? Or the government or-"

"Because," Ogremon hastily interjected "you kids bond the easiest with Digimon. Heck, you are probably on the border of being unable to bond. Never heard of an adult who can. Digimon choose children for their partners. The connection is rooted in the child's innocence, the ability to accept the Digimon for what it is and truly believe in its existence. And adult just doesn't have enough… imagination to do it."

A mocking sound of clapping hands filled the stifling air filled with the aroma of various exotic flowers.

"Clap your hands if you believe," Xander said with an emotionless face "That's all there is to it, is it not?"

"Indeed. The will to believe is essential," admitted Leomon and then extended his waiting hand at Takahiro "Can I take your Digivice for a minute?"

"My wha- oh, right? That thingie," sheepishly laughed the blue-haired boy before handing over a remote-shaped device to the bipedal lion.

"This," he said and held it up high enough for everyone to see "is a Digivice. It is the physical link between you and your Digimon. With it you can see through your partner's eyes, gain information on other Digimon your encounter, turn your partner into data and store him or her inside the Digivice and scan the Digi-cores of destroyed Digimon to gain their fractal code and transform it into a Digital Card with which you can boost your partner's performance. And, most importantly, the Digivice is what helps your partner to Digivolve."

Since he was seeing the new kind of highly-advanced Digivice for the first time in a place with a good enough amount of light, Xander looked at the device in Leomon's hand with curiosity. It was remote-shaped and had silver as its base color but its main theme was bright orange, just as Takahiro's tracksuit. Its rectangular screen was encircled by a ring inscribed with what looked like Digi-code and below the screen were positioned five buttons, in circular formation as well. Some kind of rectangular diode, also orange, was embed on the right side of the Digivice and Xander guessed it was probably used for scanning. But for what served the lens shutter at the back of the device or the orange tray with a curved end that could expand from its bottom, the auburn-haired boy couldn't guess.

"And now," Leomon said somewhat sheepishly and looked at the Yamashita "Alexander, Fanglongmon is confident in your abilities. He wants you to lead this new team. If you just at least try and see if the last egg will answer to your touch I'm sure that-"

"Guess that's my cue to leave then," sighed the obsidian-eyed boy and, under Ogremon and Leomon's shocked looks, headed towards the door to go back inside the towering building.

"Wait a sec there, pup," grunted Ogremon and nearly lifted Xander up in the air when the green oni took hold of the boy's yellow T-shirt. "You can't just walk away from us again. Fanglongmon said-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT THAT SCALY BASTARD SAID!" roared Xander and wrenched himself out of the grip of a now very shocked white-haired ogre. The auburn-haired boy was sure he could feel the looks of his peers piercing the eyes of the feral black wolf adoring the back of his T-shirt. "You can't expect everyone to just jump at your Sovereigns' call. I still remember what happened the last time _I_ did. You are ruining the lives of people who have the whole world waiting for them, Ogremon. I've nothing against you and that lion buddy of yours," grunted Xander still without looking back "but you ask too much from me. I'm saying this for the last time: all this is somebody else's problem now. Just leave me alone."

Xander managed to resist glancing back at the faces of the other humans that were present but before exiting the rooftop greenhouse, picked up a bundle of red cloth from one of the benches near the door and tossed it back at Leomon.

"That's for you, Simba," explained Xander with a hand now clutching the doorknob, one twist away from revealing the boy the stairs descending towards the much wanted normalcy "Try keeping it intact- that's my favorite red shirt. Thought it was appropriate to give you this as a parting gift considering the… expiration tendencies you Leos seem to have."

"I am flattered by this gift," said Leomon as he examined closely the item of clothing in his gruff hands and tried not to be annoyed by Ogremon's envious look "but this is too small for me. I won't be able to wear it. Besides, what do you mean by 'expiration tendencies'?"

"Oh, don't worry," smirked Xander and finally headed down the stairs "You'll know it when the time comes."

The auburn-haired boy shut himself off the world as he descended down one flight of stairs after another. He could have taken the elevator of course, but the Yamashita needed to move. Staying in one place would have meant thinking about the group he had left behind just seconds ago. And that was the last thing he wanted to think of. Eventually, the disgruntled teen reached his destination and upon entering his home, the gentle cool air generated by the air-conditioner caressed his sweaty skin. The soft sound of pop music came from the TV in the living room and Xander was just about to go to his room and try shutting off the rest of the world with a sufficient amount of probably depressing music when Kumiko peered from the nearest room.

"Xander? Oh, thank goodness you're back, I so need a shower but I can't just leave Haru to wander around," explained the woman with flowing black hair in a manner seemingly way too fast for the average human's breathing capabilities. "Here, watch over him for a while, I'll be done in no time," blurted Kumiko in a single breath and left the one-year-old in his half-brother's arms.

Xander just shook his head and positioned the boy better in his hands as he headed towards his room. The familiar sound of Kumiko tripping over something and the sound of said something getting shattered into pieces upon making contact with the ground was the last thing he heard before shutting the door to his room. The Yamashita put down the youngest of the family on the sheets and sprawled down on the floor next to his bed. The headphones were now in his hands but something kept bugging the auburn-haired teen, something else than the constantly shrieking and giggling youngster rolling around his bed.

With an annoyed groan, Xander tossed away the headphones which ended up in Haruto's waiting hands, left behind to be tasted for edibility by the youngest Yamashita. The older one partially crawled under the bed, obviously looking for something, and emerged a minute later with a dusty wooden box in his hands. The small locker had various patterns carved all over it but otherwise looked like any other wooden box after years of prolonged use and then long periods of its owner forgetting, or just denying, its very existence. Xander placed the box on the pearl-white bed sheets and little Haru readily tossed away the headphones and crawled over to his big brother to inspect the unknown container. The ordinary rusty lock opened with a creak and after some time glaring at the unseen contents of the box, the auburn-haired teen took out one of the things inside.

The worn-out picture glistened under the bright sun-beams entering the room through the recently-cleaned windows. Xander's gaze wandered from one smiling face on the picture to another. Indeed, each and every one of the misfit bunch in the picture was smiling, oblivious to the danger, tragedies and bittersweet endings that were to come. In the center of the group of pre-teens stood a boy reasonably tall for his age and his alabaster skin was glistening under the sun-beams captured by the picture, sun-beams that had came from a sun so familiar yet so different from the one shining upon the old photograph in Xander's hand. The boy in the center sported an enormous lop-sided grin and the wind swayed his signature dreadlocks, beaten in signaturity only by the ridiculous yellow goggles perched atop his head that somehow never ended up being used for their real purpose. Another boy, slightly shorter but with visibly broader shoulders was leaning next to the goggle-sporting boy in the picture. His hazel eyes were nearly shut due to his sly grin that somehow made the numerous freckles on the redhead's face stand out even more. Next to the grinning redhead was perched the tallest of the group of kids. The black-haired boy with distinctly Asian looks was waving somewhat shyly to the camera, having been somehow torn away from his favorite books, but one could easily tell that the boy's smile was genuine enough. On the other side, next to the dreadlocks-sporting gogglehead, stood a slim girl with shoulder-length obsidian-black hair. There was a wide smile on her pale face as well, and her eyes were laughing as the camera had captured her leaning slightly forward and making a playful wink. A younger boy stood in front of the gogglehead and the redhead and they had their free hands on their younger friends shoulders. Xander's gaze focused longer on the wide-eyed grinning boy whose auburn-hair's fringe looked even spikier because of the wind.

The Yamashita's tired gaze eventually moved on to the other residents of the old photograph. On the farthest right was standing a tall man with cropped auburn hair that was resting his hand on the Asian boy's shoulder. His white-gray cloak and signature thin braid were being billowed by the wind but the usually stern man had dropped the tough exterior and was smiling like everyone rest on the picture. A large bee-like creature was hovering in the air just above the Asian boy's head and was giving a thumbs-up with nearly all of his appendages. On the farthest left stood a strange, but otherwise funny-looking, Digimon that could have been described the best by labeling him as a genie with green Arabic robes and an large oval mirror for a torso. A cream-colored puppy with droopy ears was wagging her tail from her place in the winking girl's arms. What could be best described as an overly hyperactive man dressed in a monkey suit and sporting a set of dark sunglasses had been captured by the camera mid-jump. The orange-and-brown monkey man's grin was the widest and he was flashing a peace sign after having just turned around mid-jump just in time to be captured in the picture.

Two dinosaur-like Digimon with red gems incrusted in both their foreheads were grinning from both sides of the youngest boy. The purple one, the one in front of the gogglehead and sporting small bat-like wings on his back was giving a thumbs-up as well and the bronze-colored one sporting black samurai armor was busy looking tough and polishing his bicep. Xander's obsidian eyes rested on the white-and-gold colored bird on the ground in front of the youngest boy the longest. His hooked beak was opened in laughter and the illusion of sorts of a helm on his head created by his own golden feathers was as ruffled as ever. The sun-beams were reflected by the two golden Holy Rings on both of the bird's legs. His wings, ending with golden claws so uncharacteristic for a bird, were spread wide, as if their owner was waiting for the bright world to hug him back, waiting for happiness and adventure and finally a break from all the fighting.

"Foolish hopes that didn't come true," muttered Xander under his breath "and never will."

Little Haruto let out a shriek of protest in his own language when his older brother took from his hands the dusty yellow goggles, the same ones that the boy with dreadlocks in the picture was sporting, that the one-year-old had taken out of the box. Xander just put the headphones back into his little half-brother's arms and after throwing back the picture and the goggles back in the worn-out locker, tossed it back under the bed with an angered sigh and a downcast look.


	6. Doubts, And Other Unfortunate Surprises

_**Chapter 5:**_

_**Doubts, And Other Unfortunate Surprises**_

For the first time in all of the nearly seventeen years of his life, Willis realized that ordinary hot air could physically hurt you. Or at least that was what the blond teen felt as he valiantly tried to make his way through the raging sea of pedestrians heading in every possible direction, that surrounded him. He had never had claustrophobia before but the American boy thought he was starting to realize how people who did suffer from it felt when facing this particular fear. The bustling crowd around him seemed to be about to crush him at any given moment. His vision was always obscured by one person or another, each one of them in a hurry to do some meaningless to the boy task. With every step he made Willis felt one step away from losing either the backpack swung over his shoulder in which was currently stuffed one very grumpy Terriermon, or the short-sleeved red shirt he had swung over the other.

It didn't help that his otherwise highly resistant nose was constantly invaded by the stench of sweat, both his own, and of the hundreds of people passing him by, and the smell of dozens upon dozens of deodorants and perfumes which stubbornly kept on fighting a losing battle against the aforementioned stink. Willis scrunched his nose and after tugging the collar of his white, and very damp, T-shirt in a vain attempt to cool of his body, readjusted the backpack on his shoulder. The blond thought he had heard an indignant muffle coming from inside it but whatever Terriermon had wanted to say, it had gotten drowned by the various noises of the stampeding crowd.

That was probably the only thing around him that didn't affect Willis in a bad way- the noise. Albeit growing up in his parents' quiet summer house surrounded by the vast open spaces of Colorado, the American boy had found out long ago that he preferred the loud noise to the silence. Maybe it was just natural teenage rebelliousness towards the quaint things or maybe he had grown to like the hustle and bustle one was surrounded by when travelling with a group of peers. Whatever it was, Willis had found out he enjoyed the chattering of the crowds and the various noises of the metropolis on his previous visits to his friends in Tokyo.

Speaking of which, the teen couldn't help but ask himself whether he would find his Japanese 'colleagues' if he just took the train to Odaiba. Maybe doing that was a good idea and he would find them there just as he remembered them. Davis trying to beat TK in his usual race for Kari's heart. Kari herself burying her face in her hands because of said suitor's usual foolish antics. Yolei fawning over Ken who was trying to talk Davis out of his usual schemes once again. And little Cody quietly watching all of them with amusement hidden behind a stoic face.

But something told Willis that wasn't the case. True, he had never been to Shinjuku before but something felt off about the whole place. Suddenly waking up half a world away from home and finding out he was enrolled in a local high school aside, everything around him felt out of place. Willis had tried subtly questioning his parents after he had realized he was in Japan but all he got were normal answers. As normal as they could have been given the situation. The blond teen certainly didn't remember moving in to Tokyo in the beginning of the year. The absence of any other Digimon around besides his own was also troubling. Considering the last 30 hours of his life, the spontaneous decision of hiding Terriermon under his bed when his mother had knocked on the door, had been the right thing to do.

It was as if Willis had woken up in another world. A world where Digimon were still unknown and not part of the everyday picture. A world without the DigiDestined he knew.

Willis was sure about it. The way Leomon and Ogremon had explained things made it clear. DigiDestined were just now being introduced to this world. What troubled him even more was his own place in the bigger picture. After Xander's rather unexpected departure, the blond teen had confronted the two Champions about his situation. But all he got from the Sovereigns' messengers were confused shrugs and the explanation that they had been sent to find only three people. And that Fanglongmon had appointed Xander as the leader. A role the Yamashita had immediately cast away. Leomon had politely pointed out that since Willis already had a partner and didn't even have one of the new and improved digivices, they could not have been sent for him.

In other words, Willis wasn't supposed to be a part of the team. He wasn't supposed to be even there.

With such heavy thoughts on his mind, the blond teen nearly failed to realize the light had turned green. As the never-ending crowd of pedestrians pushed him across the road and back into the real world, Willis glanced at the waiting cars that had lined up along the stream of pedestrians. His weary eyes found it somewhat amusing to peer for a second into the world of the people behind the windshields.

A broad-shouldered man just finishing his hamburger behind the wheel. A mother checking up on her kids on the back seat. A vain woman applying even more lip-gloss to her already sparkling lips. A businessman completely immersed into some important talk over the phone. All of them people who knew their place in this world, who had a clear destination. Unlike some people he saw everyday in the mirror, Willis concluded with a sigh.

The teen's blue gaze lazily passed from one vehicle over the other until he reached the last in the line. The simple fact that it was a limousine caught his attention enough for him to notice that the usual glass shield that separated the passengers from the driver was down. Curious as to what the balding middle-aged and filthy rich man who probably owned the vehicles could be doing while waiting for the light to change, Willis slowed down his pace a little and threw a look at the occupant of the limo's back seat.

To Willis' great surprise, instead of the chubby suite-wearing guy he was expecting to see, his eyes came across a girl. A lithe, cerulean-eyed girl his age, who was completely immersed in the chatter with the stoic bodyguard on the front seat. Willis found himself unconsciously slowing down even more as his eyes darted from the golden curls of the girl's cascading hair to the smiling ruby lips which contrasted with her pale smooth skin. She finally noticed that someone was staring at her intently and as she lifted her curios sky-blue gaze and her eyes met with Willis' for a fraction of the second… he walked right into someone and ended up with his butt on the hot sidewalk.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" cried said someone and swiftly threw himself in a brave attempt to save his scattered groceries from the stampeding crowd.

"S-sorry, my bad," muttered Willis and immediately removed his aching behind from the scorching ground. Just behind him he could hear the cars driving off in their respective directions upon the light turning green. "Wait a sec, don't I know you?"

The plump guy ceased his grocery-retrieving quest and looked up in surprise. "Huh? Oh yeah, you're that guy who mouthed off to that scary science teacher and got detention on your first day!"

"Somehow, it sounds even worse when you put it that way," sighed the blond teen and grabbed a few stray tomatoes before they managed to roll over on the pavement. "I'm Willis. And you?"

"I'm Isamu. But my friends call me Sam. Or at least they would if I had any," quipped the curly-haired boy nonchalantly, as if he had just said the most ordinary thing.

"Awkward!" screamed a voice inside Willis' head "Nice to meet you, Sam. And, err, sorry from bumping in you aga-"

A sudden yank from inside his backpack that nearly pulled him back on the ground alerted Willis that his partner had once again picked up the worst moment to do whatever his crazy mind had thought of this time. The American boy cursed Terriermon's timing once again for good measure and as he tried to keep the wriggling backpack in its place, flashed an innocent grin at Sam and bolted away.

"Kay, nice meeting you, gotta go, see you later, bye!"

"Terriermon, if all you want to do is ask when's lunch, I swear to God, I'm stuffing you in there for the rest of your life," growled Willis to no one in particular as his eyes darted around in search of some shady secluded alley. After finding such appropriate, and quite smelly, place, Willis took off his backpack and spilled its grumbling contents on the ground.

"Hey, what's that for?" asked accusingly the dog-bunny hybrid after plopping on the dirty ground.

"That's what I should be asking, Terriermon. What is it this time?" sighed the blond teen and looked around to make sure no one was spying on them.

"Well, your teeny-tiny backpack is too small to contain my awesomeness so I thought I could use a stretch," nonchalantly explained Terriermon and dusted off his cream-and-green fur with his long ears.

"Or maybe you're just getting fat," replied Willis with a blank look, managing to still be amazed by his partner's ego even after all their years together "Terriermon, this place isn't home. You can't just stroll around whenever you feel like it."

"I know that, Willis," replied the digital bunny with unexpectedly serious voice "But bear with me a little. Even when you were little all I had to do is pretend I'm a stuffed animal or hide under the bed. And I didn't even have to hide for the last 5 years! Now I'm suddenly forced to stay all day long in some stuffy backpack! I'm a wild child, Willis! I need my space!"

Laughing at his partner's last comment, Willis plopped down next to him on the ground, without a single care for the effect of the dirt on his khaki shorts.

"Any bright ideas how to go back home, genius?"

"They'll come in time. Things always turn out fine in the end," pointed out the digital bunny with paws behind his back and one ear high in the air as if to underline his statement "Remember that one summer in New York when we got stuck in that weird snowy pocket dimension?"

"Well yeah, but that was because of Davis. Plus, Mimi was with us and there was always the probability of fixing things by punching Davis into unconsciousness," laughed the blue-eyed boy.

"I can punch you if you think it'll help," innocently suggested Terriermon and balled the tips of his ears in mocking fists.

But before Willis could turn down the suggestion, his partner's beady black eyes widened and his long ears perked up.

"Willis, there's another Digimon nearby!"

"Just great. And we don't even know if you can digivolve here," grumbled the blond teen and pulled out a small device from his pocket. It seemed even smaller when he thought of the ones the latest DigiDestined had. He had never being envious of Davis and co's D3s but now the keychain-like device in his sweaty palm looked useless.

"Come on, Freud, with so much contemplating you're gonna end up piercing your navel," quipped Terriermon and wrapped his ear around Willis' wrist before dragging the boy deeper into the maze of back streets.

After a dozen or so twists and turns, the duo came close enough for Willis' ears to pick up the other Digimon's noise. A strange hissing sound was coming from just around the corner and the American boy prepared himself for facing a dangerous, possibly serpentine opponent. With a valiant battle cry, both human and Digimon jumped around the corner ready to fight until the bitter end.

"Sheesh, dipsticks, keep it down a little! I'm workin' on a true masterpiece here."

Willis and Terriermon blinked once, twice, and then a third time to make sure their eyes weren't deceiving them. A child-sized Digimon with light blue skin and sporting a pair of black leather pants was standing atop one of the garbage cans while adding the finishing touches to the sophisticated graffiti he had scribbled on the brick wall.

"_Dracmon was here. Humans are losers. So long, dipsticks!"_announced the tag with bright red letters.

"Whatcha starin' at?" asked the mask-clad Digimon rather rudely after a single glance over his shoulder "I know I'm gorgeous and all that but 'ya gotta wait 'till I'm finished 'ere. Then I'll give 'ya da autographs."

"Talk about being full of hot air. This guy's sure full of himself," snickered Terriermon.

"He kinda reminds me of you," Willis pointed out with a smirk.

"Ya got a problem with me, Droopy-ears?" interjected Dracmon and jumped down on the ground in front of Terriermon. He pointed one of his crimson claws at the dog-bunny hybrid and smirked "Ya want a piece o' me? Come and get it then! I'm gonna force-feed 'ya this spray can 'till all 'ya can do is cough red air!"

"Oooh, I'm sooo scared," deadpanned Terriermon and waved his long ears in the air for emphasis.

"Hope you're done with your will, dipstick, 'cause you're in for a whole new world of pain!" announced Dracmon and narrowed the red and green cat-like eyes drawn on his mask at Terriermon.

Before his blabbering and overly-confident partner could worsen the situation, Willis decided it was high time he interfered.

"Come on now, guys. Surely you can both satisfy your enormous egos in some other way than fighting."

"Hah! You're just scared that I'm gonna whoop your digital pet's ass into oblivion," snickered Dracmon and flashed a grin filled with shark-like teeth "Like 'ya losers can even hope to hold a candle to me, Dracmon, prankster extraordinaire and da future king of this world, in battle."

"I bet you can't prank your way of a paper bag, much less fight it. You're all bark and no bite," smirked Terriermon and crossed his stubby arms in front of his chest.

"We'll see about that! How about a prank duel then, dipstick? Whoever finishes his challenge first wins and da loser has to be his slave for a day! I challenge you to find a police cruiser and paint it pink with floral patterns without 'em cops noticing!"

"I accept!"

"What?" bellowed Willis in shock.

"My challenge is," Terriermon pondered and looked around for inspiration "kidnap whoever it is in that fancy limo and ask for a ransom!" announced the dog-bunny hybrid and pointed at the far end of the alley with his long ear.

There, beyond the bustling crowd marching on the sidewalk, was the limousine of the girl Willis had seen earlier, now stuck in one of Tokyo's usual traffic jams.

"Figures," Dracmon smirked "a lame challenge by a lame loser. Then again, a challenge is a challenge. Just watch, dipsticks!" the blue-skinned Digimon shouted and took off in the limo's direction with breakneck speed.

"Terriermon!"

"What? I thought he'd chicken out. No one ever listens to me!"

"And you say it like it's bad thing. Let's go!"

"Hey!"

But before Willis and his lippy partner had even reached the end of the alley, Dracmon had managed to dart right into the jungle of marching legs and somehow make it to the street without getting stomped by the crowd. Cackling like mad all the while, the mischievous blood-sucker hopped onto the roof of the nearest car and from there- all the way to the limousine.

At first, no one paid attention to the strange creature. Nothing out of the ordinary considering that everyone was busy minding his or her own business and trying to get to said business as soon as possible. The lack of attention didn't go unnoticed by Dracmon and the blue-skinned vampire plunged his now energy-coated claws into the vehicle's roof before promptly ripping part of it off and throwing it away. The flying piece of metal and the blood-curdling scream the girl in said vehicle let out certainly got everybody's attention.

"Listen up, dipsticks, 'cause this 'ere handsome Digimon has an announcement to make! I'm taking da girlie 'ere hostage. Ya gotta gimme one gazillion green ones or otherwise, KAPOW! No more Princess Pretty Eyes! Got it?" Dracmon asked the public from his triumphant position atop the limo's roof.

The vehicle's back door was hastily swung open and one very distressed teenage girl stammered out and tried to reach the safety of the encircling crowd. Dracmon hopped off after her but before he could reach the blonde, the bodyguard and the driver had already gotten out of the limousine as well and were aiming their guns at him.

"Don't move, whatever you are!" ordered one of the armed men and tried to hide his insecurity of facing such a strange foe. "Stand down or we'll shoot you, monster!" added the other.

"Hah! Like 'ya losers can even hope to match me! Take this, preppies! Eye of Nightmare!"

Dracmon stuck out his palms at the duo and all Willis could see from his place among the murmuring crowd was a soft green and red glow being emanated from them.

"Yo, dipsticks! Slap each other 'till 'ya drop!"

Upon hearing the ridiculous command, the two grown men immediately dropped their guns and proceeded to lunge at each other and exchange slaps that looked, and sounded, strong enough to pierce a set of medieval armor.

"Hanz! Peter! Stop it! Please, both of you!"

Dracmon turned around to see that his would-be capture had stopped running and was trying to talk some sense into her protectors. Sadly, the hypnotized duo paid no heed to her pleas and the blonde could only stand among the abandoned vehicles filling the road and watch, one slim gentle hand covering her mouth as she pondered what to do.

"Meh, easier for me," the blue-skinned Digimon shrugged before lunging at his future victim once more. "Come 'ere, girlie! I've a challenge to win!"

Willis hopelessly tried to push his way through the crowd, knowing all too well that everybody was waiting for someone else to react- as usual in situations like this.

"Terriermon!"

"No need to tell me twice, Willis," replied his partner with determination before jumping off the boy's shoulder. The dog-bunny used his long ears to hover in the air for a while before landing on top of someone's head and proceeding forward with a laugh. "I'm on it!"

Even more people panicked upon seeing the dog-bunny hybrid using other onlookers as leverage. In a matter of seconds a wide gap opened in the middle of the crowd and Terriermon was quick to use the makeshift corridor. Just as Dracmon was about to wrap his claws around the girl's wrists, one rather cocky rabbit-like Digimon, spinning like a top no less, pushed him away and straight into the limousine.

"Not so fast there, bucko. That's no way to treat a lady."

"Why 'ya double-crossin' human pet!" shouted Dracmon as he made his way out of the vehicle's wreckage. "No more Mr. Nice Mon. Ya wanna cheat? Lemme introduce 'ya to a whole new world o' pain then."

Terriermon, with the triumphant smirk still refusing to leave his face, crossed his stubby arms in front of his chest and motioned at Dracmon with one of his long ears. "Bring!"

Both Digimon looked ready for battle and their squinted eyes were locked onto each other. The crowd just silently stood and waited for the inevitable to happen. And then, just like it always happened in the cheesy westerns, wind blew by.

But this wind, this wind made Willis shiver. It was as if each of Aeolus' breaths brought winter in their wake, chilling everything they went through on their endless journey. The heat returned immediately after the sudden gust subsided only to be driven away by the cold wind once again mere seconds later. And as Willis stood among the suddenly mute crowd, he just couldn't shake off the feeling of familiarity that the wind had brought.

A feeling that just got stronger when he saw the wind getting somewhat… pixelated and a nearby lamppost was suddenly crushed, as if by some invisible hand, before exploding. The sound of bursting glass and metal tore out the crowd from their stupor. Willis was suddenly overwhelmed by screaming people running in every direction as the pixelated wind left crushed cars and exploding telephone boots in its wake. And when the winds finally calmed down and headed towards the dark alley on the other side of the street, Willis could only mutter one thing.

"Impossible."

A deafening roar echoed around the now empty street, save for the two blond teens, the Digimon duo and the two grown men that were still slapping each other senseless. One long hand coated in brown and black fur, far too long to be normal, shot out from the shadows of the alley. The claws balled into a fist and the spring-like arm came crashing into the already wrecked limousine.

The unfortunate vehicle flew just above the shocked Dracmon's head, past Terriermon and the startled girl, before colliding with the building right behind Willis. The blond teen didn't need to see his partner's face to know what Terriermon was thinking as his beady black eyes focused on the bipedal beast emerging from the shadows.

"_Kokomon."_


End file.
